The Philippines’ manufacturing sector further improved in April 2024 amid strong demand, according to the latest S&P Global Philippines Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
“Strong growth in new orders supports renewed rise in Filipino manufacturing production,” S&P Global said in its latest report.
The country’s PMI—a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance—rose to 52.2 in April from 50.9 in March.
“The latest reading indicated the strongest improvement in operating conditions across the Filipino manufacturing sector in five months,” S&P Global said.
S&P Global said the new orders rose further in April and at a quicker pace. “The upturn was the fastest recorded since November last year,” it said.
The country’s export market conditions also improved in April, with new export orders rising for the third month running and at the quickest pace in five months.
“Rising inflows of new work supported renewed growth in goods production at Filipino manufacturers,” S&P Global said, adding that the rate of expansion was the most pronounced in four months and solid overall.
S&P Global said the upturn in demand also supported the increased efforts to raise hiring, with manufacturing employment growing for the third consecutive month. The rate of job creation eased slightly from what was seen in March.
“Greater workforce numbers allowed Filipino manufacturers to keep on top of their workloads. However, the accelerated growth in new orders meant that pressure on capacity had intensified, with some firms struggling to complete work in hand,” it said.
“Turning to prices, cost burdens continued to rise further in April amid reports of higher raw material costs. However, similar to that seen in the previous survey period, the rate of input price inflation was modest overall and much slower than the long-run survey average,” S&P Global said.
S&P Global said sentiment across the Philippines manufacturing sector was largely positive with nearly a quarter of surveyed businesses predicting growth in production. With Othel V. Campos