Ministry of Commerce & Industry releases performance index of eight core industries

The Ministry of Commerce & Industry on Tuesday released the performance index of eight core industries, comprising of coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, fertilizers, cement, and electricity.

The eight core industries comprise 40.27 percent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

The combined index of these eight industries stands at 122.5 in September 2017, which was 5.2 percent higher as compared to the index of September 2016, according to the release. Its cumulative growth during April to September, 2017-18 was 3.3 percent.

Coal production increased by 10.6 percent in September 2017, whereas the crude oil production increased by only 0.1 percent.

Similarly, natural gas production increased by 6.3 percent this year as compared to September 2016.

Petroleum refinery production was up by 8.1 percent, steel by 3.7 percent, and electricity generation by 5.2 percent.

Where cement production increased by 0.1 percent, fertilizer production declined by 7.7 percent.