LSM sector posts 3.21pc growth in FY16

KARACHI: Large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector posted a 3.21 percent growth during the last fiscal 2015/16 as automobile and fertiliser industries mainly contributed to the metrics, official data showed on Tuesday. 

Automobile production surged 16.11 percent during July-June 2015/16, while fertiliser industry grew 13.81 percent in the same period, said the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).  Other sectors, showing growth during the last fiscal year, included non-metallic mineral products (10.02 percent), chemicals (8.13pc), leather products (7.76pc), rubber products (7.16pc), pharmaceutical sector (6.54pc) and food, beverages and tobacco (0.92pc). 

Textile sector recorded the minimal growth (0.42 percent) in FY16 among all the large scale industries.  The PBS data further showed that wood products sector endured a staggering 65.83 percent decline in the last fiscal year, followed by engineering products (14.43pc), iron and steel production (9.26pc), coke and petroleum products (2.59pc), electronics (1.68pc) and paper and board (1.58pc). 

The PBS recorded a minuscule 0.01 percent increase in the output of the LSM sector in June over the same month a year ago. However, the monthly production dropped 2.62 percent over May. Sales of automobiles increased 19 percent to 1.626 million vehicles in the last fiscal year of 2015/16.

The PBS data showed that production of nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers increased 14.90 percent and 5.82 percent, respectively, during the last fiscal year.  The output of cotton yarn and cloth inched up 1.26 percent and 0.22 percent in the period under review.

The data showed that the production of chip board plunged 67.22 percent.   The production of almost all the petroleum products underwent a downtrend. The exceptions were jet fuel oil, motor spirits, lubricating oil, and liquefied petroleum gas. Overall, the sector’s output dropped 0.46 percent during the last fiscal year.