Declines in manufacturing industry sales and investment

Total sales by manufacturing enterprises during the second quarter this year decreased by Lm8.7 million, or 3.4 per cent, to Lm246.3 million over the same period last year, the National Statistics Office said.

The wearing apparel and clothes sub-sector registered a decrease of Lm2.7 million in its sales performance, or 20.6 per cent, to Lm10.4 million.

Sales by the furniture and manufacturing N.E.C. and the electrical machinery and apparatus sub-sectors also recorded a decrease in their sales of Lm2.2 million and Lm2 million respectively.

Sales by the textiles and textile products manufacturing sub-sector increased by Lm2 million, while that for the medical, precision and optical instruments went up by Lm1.7 million.

During the first six months of 2004, the net total manufacturing sales amounted to Lm498.6 million, basically at the same level as that for the same months of 2003, which amounted to Lm499.5 million.

In the second quarter this year, employment in the sampled enterprises declined by a net of 989 employees to 20,042, when compared to the same period the year before. Most of the job losses were registered in the wearing apparel and clothes (-393 employees), the radio, TV and communication equipment (-269) and the chemicals and chemical products (-251) manufacturing sub-sectors.

An increase in employment was recorded by the medical, precision and optical instruments (228 employees) and the textiles and textile products (170) manufacturing sub-sectors.

The NSO said that when taking into account the employment at the end of March and that at the end of June 2004, a net increase of 312 employees was registered.

The wearing apparel and clothes and the food and beverages manufacturing sub-sectors contributed to most of this increase, with 187 and 96 employees respectively.

In the second quarter of 2004 an amount of Lm29.9 million was paid out in wages and salaries by the sampled enterprises.

Overall investment in the manufacturing industry decreased by Lm1.3 million to Lm11.9 million compared to Lm13.2 million for the same period of the previous year.

The publishing and printing and the rubber and plastic products sub-sectors registered most of the decrease, with Lm1.6 million and Lm1.1 million respectively.

On the other hand, investment during the first six months of 2004 added up to Lm30.4 million, a net increase of Lm6.2 million over the Lm24.2 million registered during the same period 2003.

Most of this increase was due to the chemicals and chemical products sub-sector, with a Lm4.6 million increase, and the publishing and printing sub-sector with a Lm2.3 million increase.