Manufacturing sales down 4.8%

According to statistics released yesterday by the National Statistics Office, sales by manufacturing enterprises fell by 4.8 per cent, or Lm11.6 million, over this year’s second quarter.

Total sales for the period had reached Lm240.9 million, down from the Lm252.5 registered over the same quarter last year.

Over the course of this year’s second quarter, sales by the Radio, TV and Communications sub-sector were down by Lm4.2 million, or 3.5 per cent, to Lm115.7 million – down from last year’s Q2 figure of Lm119.9 million.

Meanwhile, drops in sales were also registered in the Electrical Machinery, the Plastic and Rubber Products, the Leather, the Tobacco and the Machinery and Equipment sub-sectors.

On the other hand, the Printing and Publishing manufacturing sub-sector enhanced its sales performance drastically by Lm2.7 million, or 36.2 per cent, to Lm10 million from the Lm7.4 million recorded over the same period last year. In the previous year, sales by the Food and Beverages manufacturing sub-sector increased by Lm1.6 million or 5.8 per cent from Lm28.3 million to Lm26.7 million.

Employment in the enterprises sampled by the NSO, meanwhile, declined by 762 employees to 21,739 when compared to the second quarter the year before.

Most of the job losses were registered in the Leather, the Medical and Precision Equipment, the Clothes and the Furniture and Manufacturing N.E.C. manufacturing sub-sectors. However, the Printing and Publishing sub-sector recorded an increase of 58 employees.

During the period under review, an amount of Lm28.7 million was paid out in wages and salaries by the sampled enterprises; an increase of Lm0.5 million over the same period last year.

Despite the fall in output, overall investment in manufacturing increased by Lm0.7 million to nearly Lm9 million compared to Lm8.3 million in the previous year. Investment by the Printing and Publishing and the Radio, TV, Telecommunications sub-sectors increased by Lm1.5 million and Lm0.9 respectively, while a drop in investment of Lm0.9 million was registered the Food and Beverages manufacturing sub-sector.