Industrial production rises 4.3% in Jan.

Sri Lanka’s industrial production in January increased by 4.3% year-on-year, the Department of Census and Statistics said yesterday (14 March), indicating an upsurge in eleven out of twenty industry groups including steel, petroleum products, and machinery.  

IIP, the index of industrial production, increased by 4.3% in the month of January 2018 compared to the same month in 2017, the department said in a statement.  IIP reported for the month of January 2018 and 2017 were 108.9 and 104.4 respectively.

The IIP is an index which details out the growth of sub-sectors of the industry sector in a given period of time. It reveals short-term changes of volume of production of the industrial sector. 

The Department of Census and Statistics compiles number of economic indicators including IIP. Government, as well as industries, use these indicators to understand the trends and patterns in Sri Lankan economy, identify the drivers of economic growth, evaluate economic performance and for the formulation and assessment of economic policies. 

In terms of manufacturing industries, 11 out of 20 industry groups have shown positive growths in volume of production. The industry groups: ‘Manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products’, ‘Manufacture of fabricated metal  products’ and ‘Manufacture of machinery & equipment’ have shown remarkable increases of 38.4%, 24.4% and 16.7% respectively in their volume of production during the month of January 2018, compared to that of January 2017. 

The volumes of basic metal products and food products have increased by 11.2% and 3.5% respectively.

Among the 9 industries recorded negative growths in volume of production of manufacturing industries: ‘Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products’, ‘Manufacture of furniture’ ‘Manufacture of paper & paper products’   have reported negative growth rates of 22.2%, 21.1% and 18.8% respectively.