Car sales top 100,000-unit
mark in 2007

10 January 2008 – The Philippine car manufacturing industry exceeded its full-year sales target of 108,000 units in 2007. This is also the first time the industry has gone past the 100,000-unit mark in a decade.

Based on data released by the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI), car sales in 2007 grew 18.4% to 117,903 units from 99,541 units in 2006. Commercial vehicles, the sales of which rose 25.6%, led the robust industry growth.

According to CAMPI president Elizabeth Lee, the good performance of the economy, new model introductions, and the launch of the first Philippine International Motor Show last year boosted sales. The Supreme Court decision banning the sale of second-hand imported vehicles also helped the industry.

For 2008, CAMPI sees a 5%–7% growth in sales.

Metallic minerals production value up 58.8% in H1

23 October 2007 – According to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the production value of metallic minerals in the first half of the year rose 58.8% to P39.42 billion from P24.83 billion during the same period last year. Rising metal prices in the world market boosted the local metallic mineral output.

Gold production fell 1% to 18,680 kilograms from 18,949 kilograms, but in terms of value, gold led all metallic minerals with P19.3 billion in the first six months. Nickel came second with P15.46 billion, followed by copper with P3.67 billion, and then silver, zinc, and chromite combined with P970.38 million.

Investments in mining reached US$879 million in the first half and are now expected to breach the US$1.35 million yearend target.

Negative growth in manufacturing output in H1

24 August 2007 – In terms of output, the manufacturing sector registered negative growth in the first half of the year. According to the National Statistic Office, the manufacturing sector’s output, as measured by the volume of production index, contracted 6.1% in January to June. However, this is actually an improvement over the 8.12% contraction in the first half of 2006.

Double-digit declines in output in the first semester were recorded for the tobacco, textiles, footwear and wearing apparel, basic metals, nonferrous metals, and machinery subsectors, overshadowing the double-digit growths in wood and wood products, furniture and fixtures, miscellaneous and nonmetallic minerals, and fabricated metal products.

Since February, negative growth rates have been recorded in manufacturing output.

Manufacturing volume again posts negative growth in Q1

24 May 2007 –The Philippine manufacturing sector again posted negative growth in manufacturing volume in the first quarter, although the minus 7.37% growth is better than the minus 8.07% growth reported in the same period last year.

In spite of double-digit increases in the manufacturing volume of a few industry subsectors, significant decreases for textiles, tobacco, petroleum products, nonferrous materials, beverages, fabricated metal products, miscellaneous manufactures, rubber products, and leather products accounted for the cumulative slowdown.

Similarly, the average capacity utilization from January to March decreased to 79.77% from 80.03% a year ago. On the other hand, the volume of net sales grew to 3.40% from 0.37%.

Car sales up 10.7% in Q1

14 April 2007 – According to the joint report of the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association, total car sales for the first quarter of the year surged 18.7% to 26,201 cars and trucks from 22,066 in the same period in 2006.

Such commercial vehicles as sport utility vehicles, Asian utility vehicles, vans, and trucks continued to dominate the market, accounting for 65% of the total units sold. “The increase in commercial vehicles is due to the numerous exciting new model introductions this early in the year coupled with fleet sales delivery,” said the report.

Factory output continues to slow down

29 November 2006 – Factory output, as measured by the Volume of Production Index, posted negative year-on-year growth in January to September at –8.3%. Given that the VoPI grew 0.9% year-on-year in the same period a year ago, this means there has been a 9.2% total slowdown in manufacturing output.

Factory output in September contributed to the overall slump, posting an –8.3% growth rate against –4.5% a year ago.

The poor performance of the manufacturing sector was attributed to the double-digit decline in the following subsectors: glass and glass products, transport equipment, machinery excluding electrical, furniture and fixtures, electrical machinery, footwear and wearing apparel, non-metallic mineral products, paper and paper products, rubber products, iron and steel, textile, and publishing and printing.

Manufacturing volume drops further

26 September 2006 – The country’s manufacturing output continues to struggle, posting –8.5% growth for January to July, substantially lower than the 1.0% growth in the same period last year.

The decline is attributed to the slump in the following sectors: footwear and wearing apparel, wood and wood products, furniture and fixtures, rubber products, nonmetallic mineral products, glass and glass products, cement, electrical machinery, and transport equipment.

Meanwhile, the volume of net sales recorded –4.1% growth for January to July, compared to the –2.2% growth a year ago. Average capacity utilization, on the other hand, barely improved to 80.1% in the seven-month period from 80.0% last year.

Forty percent of cars can’t run on biofuel – CAMPI

23 August 2006 – According to the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc., 40% or about two million of the five million registered vehicles in the country cannot run on ethanol blended fuels.

CAMPI technical head Allen Rufo explained that many vehicles in the country still run with carburetors on their engines, as opposed to the newer fuel injection system engines. These vehicles with carburated engines are not fit for biofuels since the engines find it harder to adjust to the changes in the oxygen content of biofuels, which results in higher emissions.

Manufacturing output still down
after 5 months

27 July 2006 – The country’s manufacturing output, as measured by the volume of production index, continues to slump. It posted a –5.4% growth rate in May compared to the year-ago figure. According to the National Statistics Office, the negative growth rate in May contributed to the –10.8% cumulative growth rate of manufacturing output from January to May this year.

The weak manufacturing production was attributed to the poor performance of the following industry subsectors: wood and wood products, rubber products, tobacco, machinery (excluding electrical), and electrical machinery.

SEC allows Pacific Plans to resume selling pre-need plans

24 July 2006 – Pacific Plans Inc. will be selling pre-need plans once more following the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent approval of the renewal of the firm’s dealer’s license.

The commission issued the resolution enabling PPI to sell fixed-value education plans, memorial plans, and pension plans after PPI complied with the P100 million minimum paid-up capital requirement. To further prove its claim of financial capability, PPI reported an excess of P1.35 billion in trust funds as of December 2005. It has tapped Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., ING Bank, and China Bank as its trustee banks.

The SEC resolution was issued more than a year after PPI requested for corporate rehabilitation in April 2005. The firm was able to gain the approval of the Makati Regional Trial Court for its corporate rehabilitation plan, which eventually paved the way for the review of its application for license renewal.

Car sales down 3% in first half

11 July 2006 – Sales of automotive vehicles from January to June slipped 3% to only 46,236 units compared to 47,624 units sold a year ago, according to the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. and the Truck Manufacturers Association.

For passenger cars, sales in the first half rose 2% to 17,980 units from 17,664 a year ago. The modest growth is attributed to the introduction of new models, as well as promotions and marketing activities of local assemblers. Sales of light commercial vehicles also increased 3%

On the other hand, first-half sales were down 6% for commercial vehicles, down 15% for utility vehicles, and down 22% for light trucks compared to last year.

Manufacturing output down 11.4% in Jan-Feb due to RVAT

26 April 2006 – According to the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries released by the National Statistics Office, the average year-on-year growth rate of manufacturing output for January and February fell to –11.4% from the year-on-year growth rate of 1.4% a year ago, a decline of 10%. The negative manufacturing growth rate was attributed mainly to the impact of the 12% reformed value-added tax, which was implemented starting 1 February.

The double-digit decline reflected the poor factory performance of the following industries: wood and wood products, leather products, machinery (excluding electrical and electrical machinery), publishing and printing, footwear and wearing apparel, tobacco, non-metallic mineral products, chemical products, and transport equipment.

Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the average volume net sales for January to February improved to 4.0% from –4.3% a year ago, an 8.2% decline. The average capacity utilization of manufacturing companies grew by just 0.3% to an average of 79.8% compared to the 80.1% utilization rate a year ago.