Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The production of jeeps and cars witnessed 29.73 per cent growth in production during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year, compared to the corresponding period of last year.

As many as 137,688 jeeps and cars were manufactured during July-March (2015-16) compared to 106,135 units during July-March (2014-15), showing a surge of over 39.73 per cent, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The production of Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) also witnessed growth of 68.53 per cent, going up from the output of 17,521 units last year to 29,529 units during the current year.

The production of motorcycles increased by 17.22 per cent during the period under review to 1,513,571 units during the first eight months compared to the production of 1,291,194 units during the corresponding period last year. The production of buses increased by 81.95 percent by going up from 410 units last year to 746 units during the current fiscal year whereas the production of trucks increased by 41.68 percent from 2,781 units last year to 3,940 units during the current fiscal year.

However, the production of tractors during the period declined by 38.63 percent by going down from 35,753 last year to 21,942. Jeeps and cars witnessed negative growth of 9.18 percent by going down from 16,904 units in March 2015 to 15,353 units in March

2016. The production of LCVs declined from 4,091 units during March 2015 to 2,071 units during March 2016, showing negative growth of 49.38 percent.

The production of motorcycles increased 18.22 per cent in March 2016. The production of motorcycles in the month stood at 174,649 units compared to the production of 147,736 units in March 2015. The production of buses and trucks increased by 1127.78 per cent and 27.05 per cent respectively compared to the same month last year. As many as 82 buses and 526 trucks were manufactured during March 2016 compared to the production of 36 and 414 units respectively. The production of tractors increased by 9.88 per cent in March 2016 during which the output was recorded at 4,336 units compared to the production of 3,946 units in March 2015, the PBS data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s large scale manufacturing (LSM) sector has witnessed 4.7 per cent growth during the first three quarters of current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period last year. The Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) of large scale manufacturing industries was recorded at 133.88 points during July-March (2015-16) against 127.87 points during same period of last year.