Manufacturing sales, investment up, employment down

In the first quarter of this year, total manufacturing sales increased by Lm9.7 million, or four per cent, compared to a year earlier, reaching Lm254.1 million, according to figures released yesterday by the National Statistics Office.

The textiles and textile products manufacturing sub-sector increased its sales performance by Lm3.2 million, or 86.5 per cent, to Lm6.9 million.

The medical, precision and optical instruments sub-sector also registered an increase in sales of Lm2.6 million, or 42.6 per cent, to Lm8.7 million.

Sales by the radio, TV and communication equipment manufacturing sub-sector increased by Lm2.2 million, or 1.9 per cent, from Lm118.3 million to Lm120.5 million. An increase in sales of Lm1.9 million was registered by both the electrical machinery and apparatus and the food and beverages sectors.

In the course of the first quarter, sales by the clothes manufacturing sub-sector were down by Lm2.5 million, or 17.4 per cent, to Lm11.9 million, compared to Lm14.4 million in the same period last year. Drops in sales were also registered by the fabricated metal products and the leather and leather products sub-sectors.

In the first quarter, employment in the manufacturing sector declined by a net 1,577 employees to 19,773, when compared to the first quarter the year before. Most of the job losses were registered in the wearing apparel and clothes sub-sector (-890 employees), the radio, TV and communication equipment (-379 employees) and the chemicals and chemical products (-295 employees) manufacturing sub-sectors.

The medical, precision and optical instruments sub-sectors recorded an increase in employment by 241 employees. Other manufacturing sub-sectors that witnessed an increase in employment were the textiles sector and the machinery and equipment sector with 72 and 66 employees respectively.

In the quarter under review, investment in manufacturing registered a net increase of about Lm3.2 million to Lm14.2 million compared to Lm11.0 million in the same period the previous year.

Most of the increase was in the publishing and printing sub-sector, where investment rose by nearly Lm4 million to Lm4.5 million.