PHILIPPINE factory output in March 2012, as measured by volume of production index (VoPi), continued to accelerate, recording an annual increase of 8.2 percent, according to the Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries (MISSI) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) on Tuesday.

The MISSI said that significant expansions in production output were noted in the sectors of furniture and fixtures, footwear and wearing apparel, tobacco products, electrical machinery, publishing and printing, food manufacturing, wood and wood products and beverages.

On a monthly basis, the VoPI accelerated to 7.9 percent in March.

The MISSI accounted the growth on four of the 18 major sectors that reported double-digit increases: wood and wood products, electrical machinery, miscellaneous manufactures, and leather products.

Meanwhile, the value of production index (VaPI) showed a year-on-year increase of 11 percent in March 2012, primarily because of the double-digit increases in the VaPI registered in the 14 major sectors such as footwear and wearing apparel, furniture and fixtures, tobacco products, electrical machinery, food manufacturing, publishing and printing, petroleum products, beverages and rubber and plastic products.

On a monthly basis, the VaPI continued to grow by 7.5 percent in March. Eighteen of the 20 major sectors posted increases in VaPI, led by wood and wood products with two-digit increase of 21.4 percent.

On the other hand, the average capacity utilization for total manufacturing stood at 83.6 percent in March 2012.

The MISSI added that 12 major sectors registered more than 80-percent capacity utilization rates: basic metals, food manufacturing, petroleum products, non-metallic mineral products, electrical machinery, chemical products, miscellaneous manufactures, rubber and plastic products, machinery except electrical, paper and paper products, footwear and wearing apparel, and wood and wood products.

The proportion of establishments that operated at full capacity was recorded at 20.6 percent in March, and about 57 percent of the establishments operated at 70-percent to 89-percent capacity, while 22.4 percent of the establishments operated below 70-percent capacity.

In terms of volume of net sales index, year-on-year it declined to 4.4 percent in March, and month-on-month, it recovered as it posted an increase of 7.1 percent. Meanwhile, the value of net sales index reflected a slower decline of 1.9 percent, and month-on-month it moved up by 6.6 percent in March.