TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) output has declined by 4.40 per cent during the first seven months (July-January) of 2022-23 when compared with the same period of last year, says the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

According to the provisional Quantum Index numbers (QIM) of the Large Scale Manufacturing Industries, the LSMI output decreased by 7.9 per cent for January 2023 when compared with January 2022 and increased by 1.48 per cent when compared with December 2022

The LSMI Quantum Index Number (QIM) was estimated for July-January, 2022-23 at 115.45, while it was estimated for January 2023 at 126.85.

The provisional quantum indices of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) for January 2023 with the base year 2015-16 have been developed on the basis of the latest data supplied by the source agencies i.e. OCAC, Ministry of Industries and Production, Ministry of Commerce and Provincial Bureau of Statistics (BoS).

The LSM data released by the PBS with the base year 2015-16 showed that the main contributors towards the overall growth of 4.40 per cent are, food (-0.32), tobacco (-0.55), textile (-2.71) garments (3.81), petroleum products (-0.69), cement (-0.86), pharmaceuticals (-1.22), and automobiles (-1.55).

The production in July-January 2022-23 as compared to July-January 2021-22 has increased in wearing apparel, furniture and other manufacturing (football) while it decreased in food, tobacco, textile, coke & petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, non-metallic mineral products, machinery and equipment, automobiles and other transport equipment.

The sectors showing growth during July-January include wearing apparel (44.47 per cent), leather products (4.98), furniture (73.80 per cent) and other manufacturing (football) (48.26 per cent).

The sectors showing decline during the July-January include food (1.90 per cent), beverages (7.38 per cent), tobacco (21.69 per cent), textile (13.21 per cent), wood products (67.81 per cent), paper and board (3.80 per cent), coke and petroleum products (9.86 per cent), chemicals (3.58 per cent), chemicals products (1.04 per cent increased), fertilizers (5.31 per cent), pharmaceuticals (21.92 per cent), rubber products (7.68 per cent), non-metallic mineral products (10.22 per cent), iron and steel products (3.11 per cent), fabricated metal (13.97 per cent), computer, electronics and optical products (22.83 per cent), machinery and equipment (51.92 per cent), automobiles (34.85 per cent), other transport equipment (38.49 per cent).

The petroleum products production witnessed a decline of 9.86 per cent during July-January 2022-23 as its indices went down to 89.33 from 99.09 during July-January 2021-22.

High-speed diesel witnessed 10.94 per cent negative growth as its output remained 2.810 billion litres in July-January 2022-23 compared to 3.156 billion liters in July-January 2021-22.

Furnace oil witnessed 7.62 negative growth in output and remained 1.373 billion litres in July-January 2022-23 compared to 1.486 billion litres in July-January 2021-22. Jet fuel oil witnessed a growth of 17.70 per cent and remained 524.136 million litres in July-January 2022-23 compared to 445.324 million litres in July-January 2021-22. Kerosene oil witnessed 32.48 per cent negative growth in July-January 2022-23 and remained 55.933 million litres compared to 82.843 million litres.

According to the PBS data, cement production witnessed 13.06 per cent negative growth in July-January 2022-23 and remained 24.217 million tons compared to 27.854 million tons in July-January 2021-22.