ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: Large-scale manufacturing (LSM) has registered an overall growth of 14.70 per cent during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year against 5.45 per cent growth recorded in the same period last year.
The 89-item data of the State Bank of Pakistan made available to Dawn suggests that increase in LSM production during the first half of the current fiscal year was broad-based and led by a robust growth in automobile, machinery and leather products.
Production in the LSM excluding textile group has increased by 19.24 per cent in the first six months of the current fiscal compared to 6.07 per cent of the same period last year.
Similarly, the growth in the LSM excluding automobile sector has increased by 11.94 per cent compared to 3.78 per cent of the first six months of the last year. Excluding both auto and textile sectors, the production of LSM has gone up by 15.56 per cent compared to 3.61 per cent of the same period last year.
Officials attribute this growth mainly to credit expansion to the private sector, which stood at Rs207 billion compared to Rs78 billion credit during first six months of last year and the increased activity in the construction sector.
They said the fact that LSM growth rate at 14.7 per cent was far higher than budgeted target of 8.8 per cent suggests that the country would easily surpass 5.3 per cent overall GDP growth target for the year.
On a sectoral basis, the food, beverages and tobacco group depicted an increase of 17.5 per cent against 7.5 per cent of last year, textile and apparel sector grew by 4.7 per cent against 4.1 per cent last year and leather products increased by 53.5 per cent against negative four per cent growth last year.
The production of paper and paperboard has increased by 9.2 per cent but it was far less than 16.2pc growth registered during first half of the last fiscal year.
The production of some of the agriculture related industries also dropped significantly. The production of sugarcane machines dropped by 44 per cent, followed by wheat thrashers by more than 33 per cent.
The production of chemical, rubber and plastic group increased by 12 per cent this year compared to a slight reduction in production last year. The production of tyres and tubes increased by 11.4 per cent in the first six months compared to 9.8 per cent growth last year.
Similarly, the production of non-metallic minerals has increased by 16.2 per cent compared to 12.5 per cent of the same period last year, while production of basic metal industries went up by 18.6 per cent against less than one per cent reduction in production last year.
The production of metal products and machinery increased by 37.5 per cent during first six months of the current fiscal compared to 7.8 per cent growth last year. Also, the automobile production increased by 58.6 per cent against 41.9 per cent last year.
An analysis of the SBP data suggests that a significant growth has taken place in sectors directly or indirectly associated with the construction industry.
The production of paints and varnishes, both solid and liquid, has increased by 50 per cent and 35 per cent respectively when compared with last year. Similarly, the cement production has increased by 16.66 per cent. The production of pig iron, billets and coke has also increased by 20 per cent, 16.6 per cent and 20 per cent respectively.
A massive 656 per cent growth in the production of air- conditioners was registered during the first six months of the current fiscal year to over six thousand units compared with only 800 units the same period of last year.
Similarly, 57 per cent increase was witnessed in the production of electric bulbs and 14 per cent in the production of electric tubes. The production of electric meters and electric transformers also went up by 78 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.
In the automobile sector, the production of jeeps increased by 132 per cent to 383 units in the first six months compared to 165 units of the same period last year. Similarly, car manufacturing has gone up by 69.6 per cent to more than 44,000 units compared with about 26,000 units the same period last year.
The overall 17.5 per cent increase in the production of food group was led by cooking oil, sugar and beverages which grew by 20 per cent, 23.53 per cent and 19.24 per cent respectively.
The production in the textile sector was 4.67 per cent higher than last year mainly because of 17.5 per cent growth in cotton cloth, 18.3 per cent increase in woollen and carpet yarn and 21.54 per cent growth in jute goods.
The production of leather products was 53.5 per cent higher than first six months of the last fiscal year mainly because of 80 per cent growth in upper leather and 18 per cent growth in the footwear.
