Production and sales for total manufacturing in April 1999 inched up compared to a year ago according to the preliminary results of the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI).

The growth of volume of production increased to 1.9 percent in April from 0.9 percent in March. That of the volume of net sales also increased to 1.4 percent from a decline of 4.9.

Manufactures of food, electrical machinery, and basic metals turned in a positive performance in both production and sales.

However, wearing apparel, wood and wood products, furniture & fixtures, paper and paper products, petroleum products and non-metallic mineral products posted decreases in both.

 
Value of Production

In April 1999, the value of production index (VaPI) of 452.6 increased by 4.5 percent compared with 433.0 in April 1998. Year-on-year increases were observed in 9 out of 16 major sectors (See Annex 1A). Among the major sectors, textiles posted the highest year-on-year VaPI growth of 55.2 percent attributed to the expected demand for uniforms in anticipation of school opening. Other sectors that posted increases were transport equipment (23.8%), electrical machinery (7.6%), food manufacturing (4.0%), basic metals (8.4%), beverage (19.1%), rubber products (21.3%), miscellaneous manufactures (9.4%) and tobacco (3.7%).

On the other hand, wearing apparel continued to decline since January 1999. It posted the biggest decline of 26.3 percent due to closure and shutdown of sample establishments. Other sectors that posted double-digit decreases were wood & wood products (-34.0%), paper & paper products (-24.7%), non-metallic mineral products (-24.3%) and chemicals (-6.2%).

 
Volume of Production

The volume of production index (VoPI) increased by 1.8 percent from 129.3 last year to 131.7. Nine out of 16 sectors posted year-on-year increases led by textile, which increased by 49.9 percent (See Annex 1B). Other sectors which largely contributed to the growth of the overall VoPI were basic metals (28.3%), transport equipment (14.3%), electrical machinery (5.6%), food manufacturing (1.0%), beverage (3.5%), rubber products (3.1%), other manufacturing industries (8.6%) and tobacco (5.8%).

 
Value of Net Sales

The value of net sales for April 1999 increased by 2.1 percent compared to last year. Seven out of 16 sectors showed increases led by food manufacturing, which grew by 16.6 percent (See Annex 2A). Other sectors that recorded gains were chemicals (24.9%), rubber products (67.6%), electrical machinery (9.2%), basic metals (4.5%), textiles (3.0%) and transport equipment (1.2%).

On the other hand, petroleum products posted the biggest decline of 12.0 percent. Other sectors that posted double-digit decreases were non-metallic mineral products (-32.6%), wood & wood products (-23.6%), paper & paper products (-18.2%), wearing apparel (-10.8%) and miscellaneous manufactures (-17.4%).

 
Volume of Net Sales

The volume of net sales for April 1999 posted an increase of 1.4 percent over last year. Increases were noted in five sectors led by food manufacturing, which grew by 13.3 percent (See Annex 2B). This was followed by chemicals (17.7%), basic metals (21.1%), electrical machinery (7.2%) and rubber products (42.4%).

 
Capacity Utilization

Responding establishments operating below 70% capacity were 42.1 percent in April 1999 compared to 38.1 percent a year ago. About 14.7 percent operated at full capacity (90%-100%) compared to 16.6 percent in April 1998.

The following sectors that had decreased use of existing capacity in April 1999 were beverage, wood & wood products, chemicals, non-metallic mineral products, basic metals and transport equipment. On the other hand, furniture and fixtures, rubber products, electrical machinery and miscellaneous manufactures showed indications of increasing capacity utilization. Capacity utilization is defined as the ratio of output to the maximum rated capacity of the plant.

 
Response Rate

These results were based on the response of 383 sample establishments, which comprised 69.3 percent of the total number of establishments covered by the survey.