Pakistan’s industrial production drops by 1.9%

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s large-scale manufacturing sector recorded a 1.9% decline in production from July to February, ARY News reported quoting PBS.

According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), industrial output fell by 3.51% year-on-year in February alone and saw a sharper 5.9% drop compared to January.

Sugar production plummeted by 12.62%, fertiliser output dropped by 1.63%, cement production decreased by 6.43%, and iron and steel industries saw an 11.7% reduction.

However, some sectors reported growth. Tobacco production surged by 19.8%, textile output rose by 1.78%, garments production increased by 8.6%, and the automobile sector recorded a robust 43.3% growth. Petroleum product manufacturing also grew by 4.56% during the July-February period.

In a separate development, the sale of cars in Pakistan during the first nine months of the current fiscal year 2024-25 increased by 40.99 percent compared to the same months of last year, a recent data released by Pakistan Automobile Manufacturing Association (PAMA) said.

According to the data, as many as 76,265 cars were sold during the months under review as opposed to 54,091 units in the same months of last year.

The breakup figures showed that 11,460 units of Honda Civic and City were sold during July-March 2024-25 compared to the sale of 8,514 units during July-March 2023-24.

Toyota Corolla and Yaris cars sales increased by 48.92 percent as it went up to 15,980 units from 10,730 units.

Suzuki Swift’s sales also rose by 57.45 percent as its sales surged from 3,586 units to 5,891 units this year.

Sales of Suzuki Cultus declined to 1,984 units during the period under review, whereas during the same period last year, the sale was recorded at 2,803 units while the sale of Suzuki WagonR also decreased to 1,705 units from 2,652 units last year.