ISLAMABAD: The 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, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

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.

On yearly basis, the industrial growth also decreased by 7.76 percent in April 2019 as compared to same month of last year, whereas on monthly basis, the industrial growth witnessed decrease of 9.4 percent in April 2019 when compared March 2019, the PBS data revealed.

Meanwhile, the major sectors that showed growth during July-April (2018-19) included fertilizers (5.17%), electronics (17.32%), leather products (2.61%), engineering products (9.23 %), rubber products (3.4%) and wood products (23.63%).

On the other hand, the LSM industries that witnessed negative growth, included textile (0.32%), food, beverages, and tobacco (6.99%), coke and petroleum products (6.34%), pharmaceutical (7.34%), chemicals (3.96%), non-metalic mineral products (3.87%), automobiles (9.39%), iron and steel products (10.97%), and paper and board (2.93%).

It is pertinent to mention here that the provisional QIM is being computed on the basis of the latest production data of 112 items received from sources, including Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC), Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP) and Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBoS). OCAC provides data of 11 items, MoIP of 36 items while PBoS proved data of remaining 65 items.