ISLAMABAD, May 1: Pakistan’s large scale manufacturing increased by 11.71 per cent during first three quarters (July 2002-March 2003) as production from almost all major sectors, excluding electronics contributed positively.

Data compiled by the ministry of industries and production — and available with Dawn—suggest that production from automotive industry was the highest contributor as it increased by around 52 per cent.

Introduction of double shift by some car manufacturers due to availability of lease money, increase in foreign remittances, stabilization of the economy, return of large number of overseas Pakistanis from the US and other Western countries after 9/11 and general elections are being attributed to this robust performance of large-scale manufacturing sector which had been under pressure during the last couple of years.

Sugar, cotton, jute, paper and paperboard, cement, bicycles, tyres and tubes, iron and steel sectors posted a sizable increase in production when compared with first nine months of the last fiscal year.

The production of cigarettes, sodium phosphate and fertilizer phosphate and galvanised products reduced during the first nine months of the current fiscal year.

The production of trucks posted the highest increase of more than 118 per cent as it rose to 1,376 units when compared to 631 units during first nine months of the last year. Car production also increased to 42,436 units as against 27,848 units of the same period last year, showing an increase of 53 per cent.

The manufacturing of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) increased from 5,537 units to 8,727 units during July to March this year, registering an increase of 58 percent.

The production of jeeps, however, reduced significantly to only 255 units during three quarters of the current fiscal as against 318 units, showing a decline of 20 per cent.

The production of buses also increased to 1,049 units as against 737 units last year, posting an increase of more than 42 per cent. Motorcycles industry also performed well as its production touched 125,625 units in the first three quarters as against 94,108 units during the same period last year, showing an increase of 34 percent.

The production of tractors also increased by 16.5 per cent as it rose to 17,870 units as against 15,339 units in the corresponding period last year.

Sugar production also increased by 12.30 per cent during first nine months of the current fiscal. The production last year was 2.9 million tons which rose of 3.3 million tons this year.

Cigarette production reduced by 7.13 per cent. The production of cotton yarn and cotton cloth increased by more than eight per cent and 13 per cent respectively. jute goods production posted an increase of 14 per cent as reported by Pakistan Jute Mills Association.

The production of paper and paperboard together increased by 15.70 per cent. Of this, paper production increased by about 6 per cent while paperboard production increased by more than 26 per cent.

Similarly, the production of soda ash increased to 211,778 tons when compared with 187,577 tons last year, showing a rise of 12.90 per cent. Caustic soda production also increased by 5.80 per cent from 112,861 tons to 119,404 tons.

Overall fertilizer production increased by 2.46 percent as total production inched up from 3.8 million tons to 3.9m tons. Urea, ammonium nitrate and nitrogenous fertilizer production increased by 3.48 per cent, 4.21 per cent and 4.18 per cent respectively.

However, production of sodium phosphate and phosphatic fertiliser reduced by 10.5 per cent and 27.8 per cent respectively. Similarly, the production of galvanised sheets reduced by 8.73 percent.

Glass sheet production increased by 2.84 per cent. Cement production increased to 8.5 million tons from 7.1 million tons, up by 20.5 percent. The production of bicycles increased from 393,562 to 467,062, showing an increase of 18.7 per cent.

The production of motor tyres and motor tubes also increased by 8.3 per cent when compared with the same period of last year.

The production of iron and steel products also increased by 12 per cent. Of this, the production of H.R Coils and plates increased by more than 29 per cent, followed by CR. Coils by 21 per cent, rolled billet by 14 per cent and pig iron by 5 per cent.