Filipino manufacturing sees solid upturn in Jan 2026

New orders rose further, with the pace of increase accelerating to indicate a strong uptick. This in turn supported a renewed rise in production.

Output rose for the first time in five months with the pace of growth broadly in line with that seen for new factory orders.

However, confidence for the year-ahead outlook deteriorated notably and was the second-weakest in the series history (since January 2016), behind that seen in March 2020.

Growth in overall new orders was aided by a fresh rise in new factory orders received from abroad. The rate of expansion was modest but marked the first month of expansion since last September.

Higher production requirements led to a renewed expansion in workforce numbers. Job creation was recorded following two consecutive months of shallow declines. Although the pace of expansion was slight, it was the fastest since last June.

The prices Filipino goods producers paid on average for inputs rose further in January. This was attributed to higher raw material costs, S&P Global said in a release.

The pace of input price inflation was broadly unchanged from December's recent low and was only marginal overall. As a result, prices charged for manufactured goods in the Philippines also rose only slightly in the latest survey period.

The extent to which delivery times lengthened was more pronounced in the month than seen in December.

January's survey showed a loss in business confidence towards future output. The level of optimism was the second-weakest on record, only surpassing the survey low observed in March 2020.

While overall positive sentiment was led by hopes that demand conditions will improve, expectations were dampened by headwinds from economic uncertainty in key export markets.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)