LSM falls 1.17 percent in July-August

KARACHI: Large scale manufacturing (LSM) fell 1.17 percent year-on-year for the first two months of the current fiscal year of 2018/19 as industrial activities slowed down during the period, official data showed on Wednesday.

“The production in Jul-Aug 2018-19 as compared to Jul-Aug 2017-18 has significantly decreased in coke and petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, nonmetallic mineral products and fertilisers while it has increased in food, beverages and tobacco, electronics and

paper and board,” the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) said in a statement. LSM output also decreased 3.33 percent for August compared to the corresponding month a year earlier and 0.54 percent if compared to July.

In July-August, wood products recorded the highest 56.82 percent decrease in production, followed by pharmaceuticals (8.66 percent), fertilisers (8.43pc), non-metallic mineral products covering cement sector (6.83pc), coke and petroleum products (5pc), iron and steel products (3.95pc), automobiles (2.87pc), textile sector (0.33pc) and chemicals (0.08pc).

Electronics, engineering products, food, beverages and tobacco, paper and board, rubber products and leather products, however, registered growth of 15.12 percent, 11.65, 7.71, 5.82, 4.75 and 1.84 percent, respectively during the two months period.

The National Economic Council set a highly-ambitious target of 8.1 percent for LSM, which accounts for 80 percent of the industry, for the current fiscal year. LSM grew 5.38 percent during the last fiscal year of 2017/18, much below the annual target of 6.3 percent, as alone June depressing output militated against the progress made during the previous months.

Barring the provincial bureau of statistics, the two other data collection authorities registered decrease in production in July-August compared to the corresponding period a year ago. Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), logging outputs of 11 oil and petroleum products, measured five percent fall in outputs in the July-August period.

Ministry of industries, measuring output trend of 36 items, recorded 2.54 percent decrease in

production. Provincial bureau of statistics, counting production of 65 products, however, logged a 2.83 percent year-on-year increase in July-August.

The provincial bureau of statistics registered upward trend in production of vegetable ghee, milled wheat, footwear, chemicals, tyres and tubes, power looms, diesel engine, and electric motors in July-August compared to the same period a year earlier. OCAC recorded downward trend in solvant naptha (48.73pc), jute batching oil (24.87pc), furnace oil (13.30pc), jet fuel oil (9.94pc), diesel (4.9pc) and high speed diesel (4.14pc). Production of kerosene oil, motor spirits, liquefied petroleum gas and lubricating oil, however, soared 23.37 percent, 18.03, 40.55 and 0.39 percent year-on-year in July-August.

Ministry of industries recorded fall in gas plates and sheets production by 19.85 percent, tractors (13.43pc), motorcycles (12.64pc), jute goods (13.5pc), nitrogen fertilisers (8.5pc), phosphate fertilisers (7.92pc) and cement (6.72pc), according to the PBS.