Industrial sales up in RP

Industrial sales up in RP

MANILA (AFP): Sales from key Philippine industries rose 8 percent from a year earlier to 186.99 billion pesos (US$7.2 billion) in the six months to June, the Trade Department said yesterday.

Sales figures were obtained from a survey of 882 firms from the 21 leading sectors of the economy, the department said in a statement.

Among the 14 sectors which had positive sales growth, electronics sector sales rose 38 percent to 24.78 billion pesos, pharmaceutical sales rose 23 percent to 8.66 billion pesos and cement sales climbed 21 percent to 15.14 billion pesos.

Eight sectors suffered declines, with sugar industry sales down 38 percent to 1.088 billion pesos and textile sales down 27 percent to 1.8 billion pesos.