The producer price index for manufacturing, which measures the average change over time in selling prices received by domestic producers of goods and services, posted a slower annual growth of 2.3 percent in April compared to 2.5 percent in March and 6.3 percent a year ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Tuesday.
It said the slowdown was mainly due to the slower annual increase in the manufacture of food products industry division at 4.4 percent in April than 5.5 percent in March.
“The manufacture of food products contributed 44.6 percent to the slower annual growth rate of the PPI for manufacturing in April 2023. Out of the 22 industry divisions for manufacturing, manufacture of food products industry division has the highest weight in the computation of PPI,” the PSA said.
Other main contributors to the slower annual growth of PPI in April were the faster annual decrease in the manufacture of chemical and chemical products at -1.7 percent during the period from -0.05 percent in March 2023, and manufacture of basic metals at -4.9 percent in April 2023 from -3.4 percent in the previous month.
