Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) released the recent Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM) data according to which a growth of 0.99 percent was recorded during July-May 2023-24 when compared to the same period last year. It increased by 7.33 percent for May 2024 as compared to May 2023 and 7.52 percent as compared to April 2023.
The LSMI quantum index number (QIM) estimated for May 2024 is 113.90. QIM estimated for July-May, 2023-24 is 116.48 according to the provisional quantum index numbers of the large-scale manufacturing industries.
The main contributors towards overall growth of 0.99 per cent are, food (0.29), tobacco (-0.46), textile (-1.07), garments (1.33), non-metallic mineral products (-0.30), petroleum products (0.54), chemicals (0.45), pharmaceuticals (0.87), iron and steel products (-0.18), electrical equipment (-0.27), automobiles (-0.73) and furniture (0.51).
The production in July-May 2023-24 as compared to July-May 2022-23 has increased in coke and petroleum products, chemicals, fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, food, wearing apparel, machinery and equipment and furniture while it decreased in paper and board, non-metallic mineral products, tobacco, textile, iron and steel products, electrical equipment, automobiles and other transport equipment.
The sectors showing growth during July-May 2023-24 compared to July-May 2022-23 are coke and petroleum products (8.40 per cent), chemicals (5.81 per cent), chemicals products (-3.38 per cent), fertilisers (12.52 per cent), pharmaceuticals (17.54 per cent), food (1.68 per cent), wearing apparel (9.33 per cent), leather products (5.59 per cent), wood products (12.02 per cent), machinery and equipment (46.93 per cent), other manufacturing (7.29 per cent), and furniture (21.27 per cent).
The sectors showing decline during July-May 2023-24 compared to July-May 2022-23 are textile (6.04 per cent), paper and board (1.34 per cent), non-metallic mineral products (4.46 per cent), beverages (3.51 per cent), tobacco (24.26 per cent), iron and steel products (3.75 per cent), fabricated metal (6.96 per cent), computer, electronics and optical products (13.57 per cent), electrical equipment (8.36 per cent), automobiles (28.73 per cent), and other transport equipment (4.88 per cent).
The petroleum products witnessed an increase of 8.40 per cent as its indices went up to 95.39 during July-May 2023-24 compared to 88 during July-May 2022-23. Petroleum products production witnessed a decrease of 8.07 per cent in May 2024 when compared to April 2024 and 17.17 per cent increase when compared to May 2023.
High-speed diesel witnessed 13.50 per cent growth as its output remained 4.905 billion litres in July-May 2023-24 compared to 4.321 billion litres in July-May 2022-23. A growth of 18.44 percent was seen in Furnace oil production which remained 2.428 billion litres in July-May 2023-24 compared to 2.050 billion litres in July-May 2022-23. A negative growth of 9.57 per cent was witnessed in Jet fuel oil production which remained at 737.839 million litres in July-May 2023-24 compared to 815.936 million litres in July-May 2022-23.
