PH vehicle manufacturing growth peaked in July
The country’s vehicle manufacturing output rose to its highest so far this year in July, with the Philippines faring better than half of its peers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which suffered varying declines during the month.
Data released on Friday by the Asean Automotive Federation, an umbrella group of industry associations from member economies of the regional bloc, showed that the country’s manufacturing volume surged by 26.7 percent to 11,311 units from 8,925 units a year ago.
The July posting also exceeded the preceding month’s 14.6-percent growth and output of 10,288 units.
The Philippines’ July performance brought its year-to-date output to 75,644 units, marking a 15.2-percent growth compared to the 65,644 units produced in the same seven-month period last year.
Sought for comment, China Bank Capital Corp. managing director Juan Paolo Colet said the higher production output was underpinned by healthy domestic demand for vehicles.
“This shows the underlying strength of the economy on both the demand and supply sides. This trend is likely to continue as interest cuts are expected to encourage purchases of vehicles due to lower financing costs,” Colet told the Inquirer.
“For manufacturers, lower inflation and reduced borrowing costs will also give them more flexibility to be competitive in pricing their products,” he added.
From a regional perspective, the Philippines was one of the three countries among the six on the list that posted growth during the month.
Thailand, although the biggest producer, suffered the biggest decline at 16.6 percent as output fell to 124, 829 units.
Indonesia and Vietnam also recorded a 10.8 percent and 4.9 percent drop, respectively, as production went down to 109,381 units for the former and to 13,493 for the latter.
Malaysia posted a 5.1-percent growth while Myanmar saw a boost of 95.9 percent, leading to a product volume of 70,295 units and 145 units, respectively.
In total, the six countries produced 329,593 units during the month, which is equivalent to a 9.1 percent decline from the 362,492 units recorded a year ago.
