THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that the country's manufacturing sector is growing fast as of September.

The PSA said that based on the latest Monthly Integrated Survey of Industries (MISSI) it showed that the Value of Production Index (VaPI) has expanded by 8.9 percent.

This is higher than the 7.5 percent expansion in August.

But it is still lower than the 12.6 percent growth in September last year.

"The expansion in the annual growth of the VaPI in September 2023 was mainly attributed by the higher annual increase in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products industry division at 66.9 percent in September 2023 from 39.2 percent annual increase in the previous month," the PSA said.

The PSA also said that the other contributors to the higher VaPI likewise include those in the manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products.

It had an annual growth rate of 2.9 percent during the period from an annual decline of 2.4 percent in the previous month.

The manufacture of basic metals had a higher annual increase of 9.4 percent in September 2023 from 1.3 percent in the previous month.