CV manufacturing grew 14% in 2013

CEBU, Philippines - Central Visayas’ manufacturing sector registered a 14 percent growth in 2013, which was an encouraging growth from 6.3 percent it posted in the previous year.

Latest record from the National Statistical and Coordination Board revealed that the improvement in the region's manufacturing sector is led by mining and quarrying with five percent growth, construction which improved by 2.1 percent and electricity, gas and water supply registered a 4.3 percent improvement.

Overall however, the region performed slower last year with only 7.4 percent upward movement, from 9.4 percent growth it posted in 2012.

According to NSCB Central Visayas contributed 0.5 percent point to the national gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 7.2 percent.

The report indicated that Central Visayas is one of the regions in the country that failed to sustain the growth momentum posted in the previous year.

Data showed that services comprised 55.6 percent of the region’s GDP and 37.7 percent for industry. Agriculture, hunting, fishing and forestry were at 6.8 percent. This makes the services sector as the region's biggest GDP contributor.

The industry sector on the other hand, covered only 3.6 percentage points while agriculture registered a contribution to GDP of 0.1 percentage point.

Although the manufacturing sector has shown recovery, the region's economy was pulled down last year due to the slower growth in its biggest contributor--the services sector.

Services sector’s growth also slowed, from 9.1 percent in 2012 to 6.9 percent last year, after most of the region’s subsectors registered slower growth. Among these subsectors, it was only in financial intermediation with an improvement that was higher than in the previous year, that is, up 13.7 percent from 6.9 percent in 2012.

The biggest contributor to the sector’s output was the trade and repair subsector, posting a substantially slower growth of 5.1 percent from the 12.1 percent in 2012.

Obviously, tourism has sustained its growth strength of 5.2 percent. Likewise, the active real estate sector pushed the growth for renting business up by 6.9 percent.

The Philippines, including Cebu and the Central Visayas region had been urged to accelerate its promotion in inviting more manufacturing companies to keep a good economic balance, riding on rosier economic prospects of the country.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA-7) assistant regional director Efren Carreon said that processed agricultural products manufacturing is being pushed in Cebu and in the region.

Pushing the agri-based manufacturing, will not only help improve the employment rate in Cebu, but it will also help farmers in other neighboring provinces, like Negros, Bohol and even Leyte to increase cost of agricultural products like coconut, Guyabano, buko, jackfruit, moringa (Malunggay) among others.

In fact, Carreon said that the Department of Agriculture is now implementing a program that will also encourage the development of coffee and cacao farming in Cebu. (FREEMAN)