ISLAMABAD - The production of cars and jeeps witnessed 21.35 percent increase during the fiscal year 2017-18 against the output of the same period of last fiscal year, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

As many as 231,138 jeeps and cars were manufactured during July-June (2017-18) against the production of 190,466 units during July-June (2016-17), showing growth of 21.35 percent.

The production of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) witnessed an increase of 19.74 percent in production during the period under review by growing from 24,265 units last year to 29,055 LCVs during 2017-18. The production of motorcycles during the period under review increased by 12.97 percent by growing from the output of 2,500,650 units last year to 2,825,073 units during 2017-18.

The production of trucks also increased from 7,712 units last year to 9,187 units, showing growth of 19.13 percent while the production of tractors increased by 33.20 percent, from 53,975units to 71,894 units. However, the production of buses during the period under review witnessed negative growth of 29.87percent by going down from the output of 1,118 units to 784 units. Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the production of jeeps and cars increased by 40.90 percent during the month of June 2018 against the output of June 2017. Pakistan manufactured 16,234 jeeps and cars during June 2018 against the production of 11,522 units during June 2017, the PBS data revealed. The production of motorcycles increased by 6.81 percent by growing from the output of 204,804 units to 218,745 units while the production LCVs also increased by 40.28 percent, from 1,338 units to 1,877 units.

The production of tractors also witnessed upward growth of 15.21 percent by growing from 3,926 units in June 2017 to 4,523 units in June 2018 while the production of trucks witnessed growth of 5.76 percent by going up from the output of 608 units in June 2017 to 643 units in June 2018.

However, the output of buses declined by 6.67 percent by falling from 75 units to 70 units, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall Large Scale Manufacturing Industries (LSMI) of the country witnessed growth of 5.38 percent during the year 2017-18 compared to last year. The country’s LSMI Quantum Index Numbers (QIM) was recorded at 147.07 points during July-June (2017-18) against 139.55 points during July-June (2016-17), showing growth of over 5.38 per cent.

The highest growth of 13.24 percent was witnessed in the indices monitored by Oil Companies Advisory Committee (OCAC) followed by 5.04 percent growth in the products monitored by Ministry of Industries and 1.17 percent growth in Provincial Bureaus of Statistics (PBOS).

On yearly basis, the industrial growth increased by 0.51 percent during June 2018 as compared to same month of last year, however, on monthly basis, the industrial growth decreased by 8.3 percent in June 2018 when compared to growth of May 2018, the PBS data revealed.