Car production dips 2.93pc in 01 months

ISLAMABAD: The production of cars and jeeps witnessed 2.93 percent decrease during the first ten months of the fiscal year 2018-19 against the output of the same period of last fiscal year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

As many as 190,913 jeeps and cars were manufactured during July-April (2018-19) against the production of 196,677 units during July- April (2017-18), showing negative growth of 2.93 percent.

The production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) also decreased by 14.58 percent during the period under review by going down from 25,117 units last year to 21,454 LCVs during 2018-19.

The production of motorcycles during the period under review also decreased by 11.88 percent by declining from the output of 2,355,818 units last year to 2,076,059 units during 2018-19.

The production of trucks also decreased from 7,736 units last year to 5,418 units, showing decline of 29.96 percent while the production of tractors decreased by 28.71 percent, from 60,501units to 43,130 units.

The production of buses during the period under review however witnessed positive growth of 13.43 percent by going up from the output of 648 units to 735 units.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the production of jeeps and cars decreased by 27.19 percent during the month of April 2019 against the output of April 2018.

Pakistan manufactured 20,670 jeeps and cars during April 2019 against the production of 15,050 units during April 2018, the PBS data revealed.

The production of motorcycles decreased by 16.24 percent from the output of 247,712 units to 207,479 units while the production LCVs also decreased by 23.65 percent, from 2,512 units to 1,918 units.

The production of tractors also witnessed negative growth of 28.71 percent by declining from 7,950 units in April 2018 to 5,673 units in April 2019; the production of trucks decreased by 52.83 percent from the output of 829 units to 391  units in April 2019 whereas the production of buses decreased by 7.53 percent from 93 units to 86 units.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) production has witnessed a decline of 3.51 percent during first 10 months of current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

LSMI Quantum Index Number (QIM) was recorded at 145.54 points during July-April (2018-19) against 150.84 points during July-April (2017-18), showing a negative growth of 3.51 percent.

The highest decrease of 3.01 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Ministry of Industries, followed by 0.39 percent decline in the products monitored by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) while a decrease of 0.11 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Provincial Board of Statistics.