Large-scale manufacturing: Weak auto, petroleum sectors keep growth low
Production of 100 industries grew average 0.68% in July.
ISLAMABAD:
The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector registered sluggish growth in July, the first month of the current financial year, due to contraction in automobile and petroleum production, indicating the industrial wheel is not running at a pace required to bolster the economy.
Provisional data, compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, showed that the LSM sector grew 0.68 per cent in July compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
The data is computed on the basis of output of 100 industries, monitored by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee, Ministry of Industries and provincial bureaus of statistics. Of the total, 39 important industries registered a negative growth while 61 industries, largely producing consumer goods, swung into the positive zone.
According to the FBS, data provided by the provincial bureaus of statistics showed that out of 54 industries, 36 registered slight growth, which led to overall LSM expansion of 0.68 per cent.
Oil Companies Advisory Committee’s data showed that the oil and gas sector contracted 3.4 per cent in July while the Ministry of Industries and Production figures depicted negative growth of around one per cent.
For the current financial year, the government has estimated a growth of 4.2 per cent in national output. Of this, the share of LSM is two per cent as the government hopes that the sector will gain momentum on the back of increase in sugar production, increase in wheat output, robust growth in automobile production and rise in private sector credit offtake.
However, July’s LSM data and devastating floods in Sindh have put a question mark over the government estimates. According to the United Nations’ rapid need assessment report, about three-fourth of standing crops in Sindh and over one-third of livestock have been affected by the deluge, putting in jeopardy sugarcane and cotton production targets.
Continuous shortage of energy will also cast a pall over heavy industries in the new financial year.
LSM data shows that in July jet fuel production dipped 30 per cent, motor spirit 10 per cent, diesel oil 25 per cent and lubricants six per cent. Production of other petroleum products decreased 17 per cent.
According to the Ministry of Industries’ statistics, production of jeeps and cars dropped 16 per cent, buses 35 per cent, trucks 41.5 per cent and tractors 70 per cent.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.
The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector registered sluggish growth in July, the first month of the current financial year, due to contraction in automobile and petroleum production, indicating the industrial wheel is not running at a pace required to bolster the economy.
Provisional data, compiled by the Federal Bureau of Statistics, showed that the LSM sector grew 0.68 per cent in July compared to the corresponding month of the previous year.
The data is computed on the basis of output of 100 industries, monitored by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee, Ministry of Industries and provincial bureaus of statistics. Of the total, 39 important industries registered a negative growth while 61 industries, largely producing consumer goods, swung into the positive zone.
According to the FBS, data provided by the provincial bureaus of statistics showed that out of 54 industries, 36 registered slight growth, which led to overall LSM expansion of 0.68 per cent.
Oil Companies Advisory Committee’s data showed that the oil and gas sector contracted 3.4 per cent in July while the Ministry of Industries and Production figures depicted negative growth of around one per cent.
For the current financial year, the government has estimated a growth of 4.2 per cent in national output. Of this, the share of LSM is two per cent as the government hopes that the sector will gain momentum on the back of increase in sugar production, increase in wheat output, robust growth in automobile production and rise in private sector credit offtake.
However, July’s LSM data and devastating floods in Sindh have put a question mark over the government estimates. According to the United Nations’ rapid need assessment report, about three-fourth of standing crops in Sindh and over one-third of livestock have been affected by the deluge, putting in jeopardy sugarcane and cotton production targets.
Continuous shortage of energy will also cast a pall over heavy industries in the new financial year.
LSM data shows that in July jet fuel production dipped 30 per cent, motor spirit 10 per cent, diesel oil 25 per cent and lubricants six per cent. Production of other petroleum products decreased 17 per cent.
According to the Ministry of Industries’ statistics, production of jeeps and cars dropped 16 per cent, buses 35 per cent, trucks 41.5 per cent and tractors 70 per cent.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2011.