Automobile yield on growth path, car production increases 5.39pc in one year

ISLAMABAD: With 5.39 percent spread in production of jeeps and cars and 20.74 percent in motorcycles, the country's total automobiles output witnessed impressive growth during the fiscal year 2016-17.

As many as 190,466 jeeps and cars were manufactured during the period from July-June (2016-17) compared to the production of 180,717 during July-May (2015-16), according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The production of motorcycles during the fiscal year under review also increased by 20.74 percent as it witnessed positive growth from 2,071,123 units in FY2016 to 2,500,650 units in FY2017.

The production of tractors also increased from 34,814 units to 53,975 units, showing increase of 54.59 percent while the output of trucks increased from 5,666 units to 7,712 units, an increase of 36.11 percent.

According to the data, the production of buses increased by 4.49 percent during the year under review by going up from the production of 1,070 units to 1,118 units.

However, the production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) witnessed negative growth of 32 percent by declining from 35,836 units to 24,265 units.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the production of motorcycles increased by 9.04 percent by going up from output of 187,825 units in June 2016 to 204,804 units in June 2017 while the production of trucks increased by 1.16 percent by increasing from 601 units in June 2016 to 608 units in June 2017.

The output of tractors also increased by 10.16 percent to 3,926 units in June 2017 when compared to the production of 3,564 units in June 2016.

On the other hand, the production of jeeps and cars decreased by 6.73 percent to 11,522 units in June 2017 when compared to the production of 12,354 units during June 2016, the data revealed.

The production of buses and LCVs also decrease by 1.32 percent and 39.29 percent during July 2017 when compared to the production of the same month of last year.

The productions of buses decreased from 76 units in June 2016 to 75 units in June 2017 whereas the production of LCVs decreased from 2,204 units in June 2016 to 1,338 units in June 2017, according to the data.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) in the country witnessed an impressive 5.6 percent growth during the fiscal year 2016-17 as compared to output of last year.

The country's LSMI Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) was recorded at 139.29 points during July-June (2016-17) against 131.90 points during same period of last year, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The highest growth of 4.18 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.22 percent growth in the products monitored by Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) and 0.21 growth in the indices of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC).

On year-to-year basis, the industrial growth increased by 3.3 percent during June 2017 as compared to same month of last year, however, on month-to-month basis, the industrial growth decreased by 6.51 percent in June 2017 when compared to growth of May 2017, the PBS data revealed.