KARACHI, Sept 5: The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector growth fell by 46 per cent during the last fiscal year ended June 30, 2006, final figures released here on Tuesday showed.

The important constituents of the LSM were in trouble and the heavy-weight textile sector was the worst performer when compared with its performance the previous year.

The LSM sector grew at 10.68 per cent during FY2006 as against 15.6 per cent the previous year, showing a fall of 46 per cent.

The textile sector posted a growth of just 4.27 per cent compared to 24.7 per cent the previous year. Its weight in the LSM sector also fell to 24.49 per cent from 32.62 per cent. The poor performance of the textile sector was the main reason for the fall of overall LSM growth in the FY2006.

Cotton yarn and cotton cloth having a weight of 13.06 per cent and 7.54pc in the LSM grew by 11.46 per cent 0.61 per cent during the fiscal year 2006.

The automobile sector growth fell to 25.7 per cent from 32.6 per cent and its weight in the LSM dipped to 3.95pc from 5.27 per cent. Car and jeeps (2.53pc weight) grew by 27pc and motorcycle (0.13pc weight) by 30.4 per cent during FY 2006.

The growth in the electronics also fell to 36.5 per cent during 2006 from 44 per cent the previous year. Its weight also dropped to 2.48 per cent from 3.31 per cent.

The air-conditioners production showed remarkable growth of 99.78pc but its weight in the LSM remained just 0.074 per cent. The production of TV sets showed a growth of 6.34 per cent but with just 0.266pc weight in the LSM.

Similarly, the production of refrigerators grew 9.82 per cent while its weight was 0.58 per cent in the LSM.

The government has made the production of motorcycles, TV sets, air-conditioners and refrigerators as reference for high economic growth but all of these items have less than one per cent weight in the LSM.

Growth of petroleum products fell to 2.24pc from 9.4 per cent in 2005. Food and beverages having a weight of 14.35 per cent posted a growth of 5.28pc. The sector had a weightage of 19.12pc but growth was minus 2pc in 2005.

The growth in the production of fertiliser dropped to 5.14pc in 2006 from 25.7 per cent the previous year.

However, pharmaceutical and chemical sectors growth improved to 12.94pc and 11.16pc respectively from 4pc and 3.4pc the previous year.

The most concerning issue is the textile sector which earns 60 per cent foreign exchange for the country. Credit intake of the sector had dropped last year and the information shows that the current year is also sluggish for the sector.

The SBP has provided attractive refinancing facility to the textile sector and slashed the export refinance rate to get a better result.