Manufacturing sales up 2.4 per cent

Over this year’s third quarter, Malta’s manufacturing sector saw their sales increase by 2.4 per cent over the same quarter in 2002. Sales by manufacturing enterprises sampled the National Statistics Office amounted to Lm263.4 million, an increase of Lm6.1 million over Q3 2002.
The printing and publishing sector saw the best increase in performance, with sales climbing by 30 per cent over the period in question – amounting to a total of Lm13.3 million.
The Radio, TV & Telecommunications manufacturing sub-sector enhanced its sales performance by Lm15.8 million or 14.7 per cent to Lm122.9 million from Lm107.1 million in the previous year.
In the period under review, sales by the Other Transport Equipment and the Food & Beverages sub-sectors increased by Lm2.4 million and nearly Lm1 million respectively.
On the other hand, sales by the Clothes sub-sector were down by Lm6 million, or a whopping 34.9 per cent, to Lm11.3 million from Lm17.3 million last year.
At the same time, drops in sales were also registered by the Furniture & Manufacture NEC, the Textiles, the Leather, the Plastic & Rubber Products, the Fabricated Metal Products and the Electrical Machinery sub-sectors.
Employment
During the July-September quarter, employment in the enterprises sampled decreased by a net of 1,273 to 20,621 when compared to the third quarter of last year. Most of the drop was recorded in the Clothes (814 employees), the Leather (223 employees) and the Plastic and Rubber Products (213 employees) sub-sectors.
The Radio, TV & Telecommunications sub-sector increased its workforce by 79 employees. Other sub-sectors which registered an increase in employment were the Other Transport Equipment (57 employees) and the Printing and Publishing sub-sectors (55 employees).
In the period under review, an amount of around Lm30.4 million was paid out in wages and salaries by the sampled enterprises.
Investment
In the quarter under review, investment in manufacturing declined by a net of Lm1.5 million to Lm10.9 million compared to Lm12.4 million last year. However, investment in the January-September 2003 period is on the same level when compared with that of the same period last year.