Contraction in factory output picks up in January

THE country’s manufacturing output, both in volume and value, fell at a faster pace in January, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.

Results of the statistics agency’s latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi) showed that the country’s Volume of Production Index (VoPI) shrank by 16.7, faster than its 12-percent drop in December and a reversal from the 1.9 percent expansion a year earlier.

The Value of Production Index (VaPI) contracted by 21.1 percent, worse than the 15.4-percent decline a month earlier and the 1.7-percent drop in January 2020.