During the first month of the PML-N-led coalition government, the Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) decreased by 13.3 percent month-on-month in April, as per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The big industry showed strong growth of 26.6 percent in March, the last month of the PTI government. But, the LSM rose year-on-year 15.4 percent in April. The production estimation was made on the new base year of 2015-16.
Meanwhile, the PBS also published a separate estimation with the old base of 2005-06.
According to the old base 2005-06, the LSM rose by 5.3 percent in April as compared to last year. While on a month-on-month basis, the industry’s production dropped by 22.8 percent. The calculations in the two estimations show a downward trend also as Large-Scale Manufacturing entered a negative growth on a month-on-month basis.
The PBS data show that the entire automobile sector, except LCVs and trucks, showed robust growth in April. Tractors production increased by 17.3 percent and Jeep 66.5 percent.
The production of buses also grew by 33.3 percent while diesel engines 139 percent. But the production of LCVs declined by 4.5 percent, and LCVs by 64.4 percent. The production of motorcycles dropped by 11.7 percent, while bicycles increased by 49.2 percent.
Read more: Large scale manufacturing (LSM) grows 7.6% in seven months
Moreover, in the non-metallic mineral sector, the production of cement output dropped by 20.5 percent in April. However, the production of glass plates and sheets rose by 147.3 percent.
The production of phosphate fertilizers showed an increase of 2.1 percent in April and nitrogen fertilizers by 4.2 percent.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, the output of tablets dipped by 14.7 percent, capsules by 57.6 percent, and injections by 43.1 percent. On the other hand, the output of syrups rose by 77.7 percent and ointments by 13 percent.
Furthermore, cooking oil production showed positive growth of 22.6 percent in April last year. However, tea blended declined by 9.9 percent in April as compared to last year, while wheat and grain milling output dipped by 3.1 percent.
The output of a few petroleum products recorded a negative growth during the month under review. The output of all products except jet fuel oil, lubricating oil, and diesel posted negative growth in April.
