industry

Revenues grow 18.3 percent

Despite higher revenues, overall volumes of food and beverage production are not keeping up with population growth, which may be a cause for worry.

LA PRENSA

Increase: Wages in the industrial sector rose 6.6 percent during the first three months of 2008 to $99.1 million.1044199

Revenues from manufacturing totalled $879,132,000 in the first trimester of 2008, 18.3 percent more than in the same period last year, the Contraloría General de la República reported yesterday.

The size of the increase contrasts with the level of growth recorded for the sector in the first three months of the year, which was 1.8 percent, according to the latest gross domestic product (GDP) report.

“If measured by volume, industrial production grew 2.4 percent. If measured by GDP, which is a much more comprehensive indicator that takes multiple factors into consideration, it grew 1.8 percent. But if you measure by revenue, you will undoubtedly see a much stronger increase, and that is related to a rise in prices and the costs of production,” explained Víctor Cruz, an economic advisor at the Sindicato de Industriales de Panamá (SIP).

Panamanian industry not only billed more during the first three months of the year, it also employed more people and paid higher salaries, also according to the Contraloría's report.

The amount paid increased 6.6 percent, rising from $92.9 million in the first trimester of 2007 to $99.1 million in the same period in 2008. The number of people employed grew 1.3 percent to a total of 45,680.

The difference in the rate of growth for each factor suggests that industrial workers' wages improved.

“In the first trimester, the new minimum wage took effect, and new collective agreements entered into force,” Cruz noted.

The Contraloría emphasized in its report that, in terms of revenue, the greatest activity occurred in “the production of meat and meat products, the manufacturing of dairy products, ice creams, shakes and malts, as well as the production of cement, lime, and plaster.”

Nonetheless, the SIP warned that with regard to production, there are more reasons to be concerned than to celebrate. “The production of food and beverages grew less than 1 percent in the first trimester, which is less than the rate of population growth, and the volume of meat and meat products declined 0.2 percent,” Cruz said.