LSM grows 1.2 percent in September

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s large-scale manufacturing (LSM) in September 2021 increased by a meagre 1.19 percent over same month last year, which analysts said was not in line with the official annual growth target of 6 percent for FY2022.

Numbers released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Thursday also showed LSM declined 0.72 percent in the month under review compared to previous month (August).

In first quarter (July-September) of 2021/22, the average growth of LSM clocked in at 5.15 percent over same period last year. In Pakistan’s manufacturing sector, LSM accounts for 80 percent of manufacturing sector.

During this quarter, textile, food, beverages & tobacco, coke & petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, non-metallic mineral products, automobiles, iron & steel products and paper & paperboard production increased, while the output of fertilisers, electronics & rubber products declined.

According to the manufacturing statistics, Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC), logging outputs of 11 oil and petroleum products, measured growth of 0.28 percent year-on-year in the outputs during this quarter.

Ministry of industries, measuring output trend of 36 items, recorded a 3.3 percent growth in production. Provincial bureau of statistics, counting production of 65 products, recorded 1.57 percent growth.

Textile sector grew 0.08 percent, food, beverages, and tobacco 3.39 percent, coke and petroleum products 4.75 percent, pharmaceuticals 11.53 percent, chemicals 4.7 percent, non-metallic minerals 1.44 percent, automobiles 42.64 percent, iron and steel products 13.77 percent, leather products 13.94 percent, paper and board 13.1 percent, engineering products 3.17 percent, and wood products output increased 4.44 percent during July-September 2021-22 compared to the same period of 2020-21. During the period, fertilisers declined 2.66 percent, electronics 4.51 percent, and production of rubber products fell 31.5 percent. Cement production increased 1.64 percent during these three months. A cursory look at the data revealed petroleum products output in the quarter increased 4.75 percent year-on-year. Jet fuel production increased 18.5 percent, LPG 12.4 percent, motor spirit 6.2 percent, kerosene oil 2.28 percent, whereas furnace oil output declined 4.86 percent. Production of trucks increased 97 percent, jeeps & cars 89 percent, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) 83 percent, heavy machinery 29.8 percent, tractors 11.33 percent, while manufacturing of busses decreased 7.2 percent and motorcycles 4.8 percent in July-September 2021-22 over same period last year. However, bicycles production increased 105 percent.

During the period, 81 percent more power looms were produced, bobbins & shuttles 20 percent, sewing machines 5 percent, refrigerators 69 percent, air conditioners 82 percent, electric fans 15 percent, switch gears 161 percent, storage batteries 27.5 percent. Nevertheless, production of electric motors declined 22 percent, electric transformers 21 percent, television sets 16 percent, while electric meters output went down 10 percent.