According to the Philippines' National Statistics Office (NSO), the country's iron and steel import value increased 38.6 percent in October compared to the same month last year. Fifth in the rank of country's leading imports in October 2011, the Philippines's iron and steel imports, which have a 2.6 percent share of total national imports, amounted to a value of $132.89 million.
Meanwhile, the production volume index for total manufacturing in the Philipinnes dropped 6.3 percent in October 2011 on year-on-year basis, especially due to the poor production performance of major sectors including basic metals and fabricated metal products. In October this year, basic metals production in the Philipinnes dropped by 36.6 percent compared to October 2010 and was down 12 percent compared to September this year, while fabricated metal products output fell 8.5 percent year on year and was down 11.1 percent compared to the previous month.