ISLAMABAD: The country’s large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector has witnessed growth of 11.30 percent during July-August 2017-18 compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) of large scale manufacturing industries was recorded at 136.18 points during August 2017 against 122.35 points during same period of last year, according to latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The highest growth of 12.65 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by ministry of industries followed by Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS) with 7.19 percent and the indices of Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) with 3.0 percent.

On year-on-year and month-on-month basis, the industrial output increased by 8.54 percent in August 2017 compared to August 2016 while it increased by 2.44 per cent if compared to July 2017.

Meanwhile, the major sectors that showed growth during two months of current fiscal year compared to same period of the previous year, included textile (0.58 percent), food, beverages and tobacco (13.35 percent), coke and petroleum products (16.30 percent), pharmaceuticals (11.04 percent), non metallic mineral products (19.64 percent), chemicals (3.19 percent), automobiles (30.82 percent), iron and steel products (49.64 percent), electronics (5.44 per cent), leather products (14.79 percent), paper and board (11.78 percent), engineering products (18.35 per cent), rubber products (0.48 percent), and wood products (18.43 percent).

On the other hand, the only industry that witnessed negative growth was fertilizers industry with a decline of 0.31 per cent during the corresponding period.

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.