MANILA – The performance of the local manufacturing sector has stalled at the start of the year due to the Omicron variant surge after the holidays and the impact of Typhoon Odette, London-based information and analytics firm IHS Markit reported Wednesday.
In its Philippines Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for January 2022, the country recorded a score of 50, or a no-change in the performance of the sector.
The PMI for January 2022 fell from 51.8 last December.
“The latest PMI data revealed an unfortunate start to the year for the Philippines manufacturing sector, with the surge in case numbers and Typhoon Odette hitting large parts of the nation,” IHS Markit economist Shreeya Patel said.
Patel said both domestic and international demand slowed down last month, as well as manufacturers’ ability to produce goods.
“Material shortages and delivery delays were also prominent, continuing pressure on vendor performance,” she said.
Despite the record-high Covid-19 cases this month, the IHS Markit survey reported that job shedding slowed down in one of its softest paces amid the pandemic.
To recall, even Metro Manila and other nearby provinces were reverted to Alert Level 3 from January 3 to 31, most of the sectors remained open but only with lower operating capacity.
Patel added that price pressures for manufacturers started to ease last month, but they were looking into increasing selling prices at a quicker rate in a bid to secure profits.
"Whilst the full impact of the typhoon and the Omicron variant are unknown, it's clear production will certainly be impacted in the coming months as companies adapt once again. Firms will hope for a quick recovery and remain prepared through advance ordering strategies,” Patel added. (PNA)
