ISLAMABAD: The production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) has witnessed 4.28 percent decrease during the first five months of the financial year 2020-21 against the output of the same period of last fiscal year, official data revealed.

As many as 6,957 LCVs were manufactured during July-November (2020-21) as compared to the production of 7,268 units during July-November (2019-20), showing decline of 4.28 percent, according to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

During the period under review, the production of cars and jeeps witnessed nominal decrease of 1.11 percent as it declined from 54,382 units last year to 53,779 units during 2020-21.

The production of motorcycles during the period under review however witnessed increase of 16.35 percent by going up from the output of 889,847 units last year to 1035,294 units during 2020-21.

The production of trucks decreased from 1,480 units last year to 1,326 units, showing decline of 10.41 percent while the production of tractors however witnessed positive growth of 19.83 percent, from 15,890 units to 19,041 units.

The production of buses during the period under review witnessed negative growth of 14.02 percent by declining from the output of 271 units to 233 units.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the production of LCVs rose by 214.91 percent, from 644 units in November 2019 to 2028 units in November 2020.

The production of jeeps and cars also increased by 72.15 percent by going up from 7,107 units in November 2019 to 12,235 in November 2020 while the production of motorcycles also increased by 20.09 percent from the output Of 187,942 units to 225,706 units.

The production of tractors witnessed growth of 57.84 percent by going up from 2412 units in November 2019 to 3807 units in November 2020, the production of buses also rose by 14.06 percent from the output of 64 units to 73 units in November 2020.

However, the production of trucks decreased by 10.16 percent from 305 units to 374 units.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall output of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) in the country during the first five months of financial year 2020-21 witnessed positive growth of 7.41 as compared to the output of the corresponding period of last year.

LSMI Quantum Index Number (QIM) was recorded at 138.52 points during July-November (2020-21) against 128.97 points during July-November (2019-20), showing growth of 7.41 percent, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The highest increase of 5.46 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Ministry of Industries, followed by 1.85 percent in the products monitored by the Provincial Board of Statistics (BOS) and an increase of 0.09 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by the Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC).