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The Philippine manufacturing sector continued to expand in December to close the year with a rate last seen in April 2022 on the back of higher output and new orders, results of the latest survey conducted by S&P Global released on Thursday showed. The headline S&P Global Philippines Manufacturing PMI stood at 54.3 in December, higher than the 53.
8 in November. This matches the same reading recorded in April 2022, and the joint-strongest since November 2017. A reading above the 50.
0 threshold indicates an expansion, while levels below indicate a contraction. “The Filipino manufacturing sector ended 2024 on a positive note, with further improvements in demand resulting in sharp and significant increases in new orders and output,” S&P Global Market Intelligence economist Maryam Baluch said. Output and new order growth were the strongest in 32 months, supported by anecdotal evidence of robust underlying demand trends, product diversification, and new client acquisitions.
There was also a renewed increase in demand from international markets as new export orders increased for the first time in five months. “Firms also expanded their purchasing activity to meet production requirements. December highlighted a moderation in inflationary pressures, marking a shift from the spike observed in November.
In fact, cost burdens and output charges rose at historically muted rates,” Baluch said. While higher costs for materials and suppliers were mostly passed onto clients, the survey results showed that there was a renewed moderation in inflationary pressures after the peaks seen in November as cost burdens rose at a rate below historical average. “While production efficiency allowed manufacturers to stay on top of tasks at hand, it also led to a slight drop in employment, thereby ending a three-month streak of job creation.
However, this could be a temporary blip, especially if demand remains resilient as anticipated throughout 2025,” Baluch said. Respondents reported a minor decrease to their hiring, as firms were able to keep on top of their workloads even with more new orders during the period with the backlog depletion rate the most pronounced in 13 months. Official government data on manufacturing under the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) is scheduled to be released on February 7, 2025.
—AOL, GMA Integrated News.
