LSM: Modest and moderate

Business Recorder reported that large-scale manufacturing growth is losing momentum, with the cumulative figure for July-August of FY27 at 1.85 percent. That is the weakest reading since June 2025. According to the paper, expansion is increasingly clustered in a small group of sectors while several heavily weighted industries have yet to recover.

The July-August index is the highest for that period in five years, beating FY22 through FY26 readings, though the paper calls the recovery uneven. Wearing apparel leads, accounting for close to half of the favourable effect on overall growth, as garment export volumes climbed 17.4 percent on a year-on-year basis in 1QFY27. Automobiles and petroleum products follow, the latter helped by refineries processing more crude amid the Middle East conflict, while car output benefits from a low base.

Weakness is spreading, with 10 sectors now posting negative readings, the most since August 2025. Food weighed most heavily in August, with ghee and vegetable oil output falling sharply, while chemicals and pharmaceuticals grapple with supply disruptions and costlier inputs. The paper concludes that manufacturing's moderate pace could persist into the early part of FY27.