ISLAMABAD: The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) shrank for the second consecutive month posting a negative growth of 1.4 per cent year-on-year in December 2017, showed Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data released on Saturday.

The negative growth in the big industry’s production is stoking fears that the country may miss the economic growth target projected for this fiscal year.

It was reported that the drop in industrial production in the past two months was mainly led by delay in cane crushing particularly in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sugar production dropped by 37.4pc as compared to the same period of last year.

Besides sugar, the fall in production is also the outcome of drop in the production of food and beverages, petroleum products, chemicals, engineering products, wood products, fertilisers and leather products during the month under review, the PBS data suggested.

In July-December, LSM posted a growth of 5.6pc year-on-year. For 2017-18, the LSM target was 6.3pc.

In the year 2016-17, LSM grew 5.6pc.

LSM constitutes 80pc of manufacturing and 10.7pc of overall GDP. Contrary to this, small-scale manufacturing accounts for 1.8pc in GDP and 13.7pc within manufacturing.

Production data of 36 items received from the Ministry of Industries showed negative growth of 1.5pc in December. The contribution of 65 items reported by the provincial bureaus of statistics posted a positive growth of 0.67pc.

Production data of 11 items received from the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) negatively contributed 0.61pc to LSM growth in December.

Industry-specific data shows that wood products recorded the highest negative growth of 55.4pc, followed by food, beverages and tobacco products 13pc, leather products 11.6pc, petroleum products 10.5pc, fertilisers 3.02pc, and engineering products 1.9pc.

Production of iron and steel products recorded 22.5pc growth, automobiles 10.03pc, electronics 9.96pc, rubber products 9.91pc, pharmaceuticals 6.83pc, non-metallic mineral products 5.83pc, paper and board 3.32pc, textile 0.21pc and chemicals 0.95pc.

In the automobile sector, the production of tractors went up 10.6pc year-on-year in December, jeeps and cars 17.6pc, light commercial vehicles 16.6pc and motorcycles 10.5pc. However, the production of buses dropped 67.9pc and that of trucks 8.09pc during the month under review.

The positive growth in the chemical sector was mainly driven by paints and varnishes-small, which recorded an increase of 53.7pc, and caustic soda, down 2.05pc.

In the pharmaceutical segment, capsules, injections and tablets recorded a negative growth of 79.2pc, 116.6pc and 54.7pc, respectively. However, the production of liquids/syrups fell 78.9pc during the month under review.

In non-metallic mineral products, cement recorded a growth of 5.9pc.

In the food, beverages and tobacco segment, the highest negative growth of 29.6pc was recorded in sugar production. Other items that recorded a negative growth were vegetable ghee, down 32pc. However, the production of blended tea up 45.7pc and cooking oil 18.5pc, respectively.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018