ISLAMABAD: The large-scale manufacturing (LSM) posted a paltry growth of 0.5 per cent year-on-year in July, data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics revealed on Wednesday.

The meagre increase in big industrial production in the first month of the current fiscal year is hyping fears that economic growth in the country may slow down.

However, production of wood products plunged 55.64 per cent, followed by pharmaceuticals 10.8pc, fertilisers 6.81pc, iron and steel products 2.77pc, chemicals 2.4pc and textiles 0.5pc, resp­ectively, during the month.

LSM constitutes 80pc of manufacturing and 10.7pc of overall GDP. In comparison, small-scale manufacturing acc­o­­unts for just 1.8pc in GDP and 13.7pc in manufacturing.

Production data of 36 items received from the Ministry of Industries and Production showed a growth of 0.4pc in July.

On the other hand, 65 items reported by the provincial bureaus of statistics declined by 0.09pc. Figures of 11 items received from the Oil Companies Advisory Co­m­mittee contributed 0.4pc to LSM growth.

Industry-specific data showed that engineering products recorded the highest increase of 13.18pc, followed by electronic products 11.74pc, automobiles 9.75pc, rubber products 8.31pc, petroleum products 6.14pc, paper and board 4.67pc, food, beverages and tobacco products 3.24pc, leather products 1.19pc and non-metallic mineral products 0.53pc.

Decline in the chemical sector was mainly driven by paints and varnishes-small, which recorded a drop of 0.78pc, whereas caustic soda went up by 18.11pc.

In pharmaceuticals, syrups, tablets capsules and injections went down by 4.69pc, 12.92pc, 16.69 and 16.04pc, respectively.

In non-metallic mineral products, cement posted a growth of 1.04pc.

Food, beverages and toba­cco segment posted a decline across the board in the first month of the current fiscal year. A 15.89pc declined was recorded in cooking oil production, followed by 5.65pc in vegetable ghee, and blended tea 7.25pc.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2018