ISLAMABAD: The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) sector of the country has grown by 4.73 per cent in November as compared with the same month of last year.
According to latest date of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the average LSM output growth from July through November period remained at 4.43 per cent. The government had estimated LSM growth at 6 percent for the fiscal year 2015-2016.
Major sub-sectors that contributed to the LSM growth included automobiles (32.29pc), fertilisers (15.24pc), rubber products (9.27pc) and chemicals (11.02pc). Other sectors including pharmaceuticals industry recorded growth of 6.44 per cent, food, beverages & tobacco registered growth of 4.81pc, non-metallic mineral products 5.32 per cent, coke & petroleum products 4.53 per cent, and textile 1.04 per cent during July-November 2015 over a year ago.
The sectors, which witnessed negative growth, included wood production that plunged by 23.53 per cent, paper and board that declined 15.78 per cent, engineering sector that dropped 15.37 per cent and electronics that plummeted 5.81 percent.
The automobile sector flourished due to the introduction of new models. Trucks production went up by 25.85pc, buses 83.98pc, cars and jeeps 45.95pc and LCVs (light commercial vehicles) by 147.98pc. Production of motorcycles had increased by 16.13pc during July-November. However, tractors production fell by 40.44pc.
In electronics products, production of deep freezers increased by 19.82pc, air-conditioners 26.96pc, switch gears 39.62pc and storage batteries 2.71pc. However, the production of refrigerators production declined by 0.87pc, electric-bulbs by 21pc, fans 3.26pc, motors 12.32pc, meters 31.2, electric transformers fell by 13.6pc and bicycle production down by 13.38pc during the period under review.