Daily Times

Manufacturing of machinery and equipment in the country during the first 08 months of the current financial year grew by 70.98 per cent as compared to the manufacturing of the corresponding period of the last year.

During the period from July-February, 2023-24 tractors assembling grew by 68.57 per cent as compared to the assembling of the same period last year, according to the Quantum Index of Large Scale Manufacturing Industries released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. During the period under review, 32,211 tractors were locally assembled as against the assembling of 19,108 tractors of the same period of last year. However, the manufacturing of heavy machinery in the country during the period under review went down by 53.11 per cent as about 113 units of heavy machinery were locally assembled as against the 241 units assembled in the same period of last year.

Meanwhile, the import of agriculture sector machinery and equipment during the first 09 months of the current financial year surged by 102.31 per cent as agriculture machinery valued at $61.095 million were imported as against the import $30.198 million of the same period of last year. The imports of the overall machinery group recorded an increase of 30 per cent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2023-24) compared to the corresponding period of the last year. The total imports of the machinery group during July-March (2023-24) stood at $5.854 billion against the imports of $4.493 billion during the same period of the last year.