TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) output has declined by 0.4 percent during the first quarter (July-September) of the current fiscal year when compared with the same period of last year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

According to the Provisional Quantum Index Numbers of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (QIM) the LSMI output increased by 0.01 per cent for September 2022 when compared with September 2021 and 0.1 per cent when compared with August 2022. The QIM estimated for September 2022 is 115 and for July-September 2022-23 is 113.4.

The LSM data released by the PBS with base year 2015-16 showed that the main contributors towards the overall growth of -0.4 per cent are, garments (5.0), petroleum products (-1.4), cement (-1.4), pharmaceuticals (-1.8), iron and steel products (0.2) and automobiles (-1.5).

The production in July-September 2022-23 as compared to July-September 2021-22 has increased in wearing apparel, chemicals, iron and steel products, and furniture while it decreased in food, tobacco, textile, coke and petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, rubber products, nonmetallic mineral products, fabricated metal, electrical equipment, machinery and equipment, automobiles and other transport equipment.

The sectors showing growth during July-September include beverages (three per cent), wearing apparel (58.1 per cent), leather products (8.4 per cent), wood products (5.3 per cent), paper and board (23.5 per cent), chemicals (4.1 per cent), chemicals products (6.9 per cent), fertilisers (2.2 per cent), iron and steel products (4.9 per cent), and furniture (126.6 per cent).

The sectors showing decline during the July-September include food (6.2 per cent), tobacco (31.2 per cent), textile (3.3 per cent), coke and petroleum products (18.9 per cent), pharmaceuticals (29 per cent), rubber products (7.1 per cent), non-metallic mineral products (13 per cent), fabricated metal (18.7 per cent), computer, electronics and optical products (9.6 per cent), electrical equipment (3.5 per cent), machinery and equipment (37 per cent), automobiles (32.8 per cent), other transport equipment (42.4 per cent), and other manufacturing (football) (59.1 per cent).

The petroleum products production witnessed a decline of 18.9 per cent during July-September 2022-23 as its indices went down to 81.8 from 101 during July-September 2021-22. On month-on-month, petroleum products registered a 24.4 per cent decline in September 2022.

High-speed diesel witnessed 25.5 per cent negative growth as its output remained 1.07 billion litres in July-September 2022-23 compared to 1.437 billion liters in July-September 2021-22.

Furnace oil witnessed 13.9 negative growth in output and remained 548.675 million litres in July-September 2022-23 compared to 637.354 million litres in July-September 2021-22. Jet fuel oil witnessed a growth of 41.2 per cent and remained 221.689 million litres in July-September 2022-23 compared to 156.993 million litres in July-September 2021-22. Kerosene oil witnessed 26 per cent negative growth in July-September 2022-23 and remained 27.162 million litres compared to 36.697 million litres in July-September 2021-22. Motor spirits registered negative growth of 13.7 per cent in July-September 2022-23 and remained 749.390 million litres compared to 868.792 million litres in July-September 2021-22.

According to the PBS data, cement production witnessed 20.4 per cent negative growth in July-September 2022-23 and remained 9.125 million tons compared to 11.468 million tons in July-September 2021-22.