Producer price index down in Feb

The Producer Price Index (PPI) for the manufacturing sector continued to move downward at -5.3 percent, the same rate recorded in January 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In a report, PSA said in February last year, the PPI declined at an annual rate of -3.0 percent.

The downturn was attributed to the decreases in the indices of 17 industry groups led by manufacturers of coke and refined petroleum products which declined by 26.4 percent.

Other industry groups which decreased include computer, electronic, and optical products, paper and paper products, machinery and equipment except electrical, transport equipment, electrical equipment, wearing apparel, other non-metallic mineral products, repair and installation of machinery and equipment, wood, bamboo, cane rattan articles, and related products, tobacco, furniture, footwear, fabricated metal products, pharmaceutical products, textiles, and printing and reproduction of recorded media.

Month-on-month, PPI slightly went up by 0.1 percent from a 1.7 percent decline in January.
In February 2020, the PPI also increased by 0.1 percent.

“Eleven industry divisions recorded positive monthly growth rates in February 2021 with manufacture of wearing apparel posting the highest monthly increment of 1.2 percent,” said the PSA.