“We hope to sustain this growth momentum through the effectivity of the 11th RFINL, which allows increased foreign participation in certain areas and activities. This could help facilitate the expansion of production capacity in the manufacturing sector,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

The country’s manufacturing output rebounded in September on the back of double-digit growth production of textiles and petroleum products, among others, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Based on the results of PSA’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (Missi), the Volume of Production Index (VoPI) posted a growth of 4 percent in September 2018, from a contraction of 5.7 percent in the same period in 2017.

Other industry groups that contributed to the VoPI growth were machinery, except electrical, miscellaneous manufactures, transport equipment and nonmetallic mineral products.

Similarly, the manufacturing sector’s Value of Production Index (VaPI) also turned around with a growth of 3.7 percent in September this year, from a negative growth of 6.2 percent in September last year.

The recovery of the VaPI in September 2018 was largely due to the double-digit growth of textiles, petroleum products, miscellaneous manufactures, machinery except electrical, transport equipment, electrical machinery, paper and paper products, and beverages.

Pernia also noted that foreign participation of up to 100 percent in training centers for short-term high-level skills development can ensure sufficiency of skills needed by industries and boost the country’s competitiveness.

“We hope that these specialized institutions can upgrade the industries’ knowledge in robotics, engineering design and additive manufacturing, among others. This will scale up the local work force as we get ready to align local manufacturing processes with the Fourth Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0,” Pernia added.

He said that foreign participation of up to 40 percent in contracts for construction and repair of locally funded public works will help improve public infrastructure projects that promote connectivity.

Pernia added that good infrastructure would support the smooth flow of raw materials and intermediate goods from production to processing areas, and link processing areas to markets.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector’s Average Capacity Utilization Rate grew 84.2 percent in September 2018 due to higher production of petroleum products.

Some 55 percent or 11 of the 20 major industries operated at least 80-percent capacity utilization rates. These include basic metals, nonmetallic mineral products, machinery except electrical and chemical products.

“The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity [90 percent to 100 percent] was more than one-fourth of the total number of establishments [26.6 percent] in September 2018,” the PSA said.

“About 55.1 percent of the total establishments operated at 70 percent to 89 percent capacity while almost one-fifth of the total establishments [18.3 percent] operated below 70-percent capacity,” it added.

The Missi is a monthly report that monitors the production, net sales, inventories and capacity utilization of selected manufacturing establishments to provide flash indicators on the performance of the manufacturing sector.

The earliest version of the Missi is the SKEM (Survey of Key Enterprises in Manufacturing), which was created in 1981 as a project of the Neda.