The Wearing Apparel and Clothes sub-sector registered a decrease in its sales performance by Lm2.7 million or 20.6 per cent to Lm10.4 million from Lm13.1 million in the previous year. Sales by the Furniture, Manufacturing and the Electrical Machinery and Apparatus sub-sectors also recorded a decrease in their sales of Lm2.2 million and Lm2 million respectively when compared to the same period under review of 2003.
In the course of the second quarter this year, 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 this year, the net total manufacturing sales was Lm 498.6 million basically on the same level with that for the same months of 2003 which amounted to Lm499.5 million.
Employment, wages and salaries
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 employees) and the Chemicals and Chemical Products (-251 employees) manufacturing sub-sectors.
An increase in employment was recorded in the Medical, Precision and Optical Instruments (228 employees) and the Textiles and Textile Products (170 employees), manufacturing sub-sectors.
When taking into account the employment at the end of March and that at the end of June this year, a net increase of 312 employees was registered. The Wearing Apparel and Clothes and the Food and Beverages manufacturing sub-sectors contributed for most of this increase with 187 and 96 employees respectively.
In the second quarter of this year an amount of Lm29.9 million was paid out in wages and salaries by the sampled enterprises.
Investment
During the April-June quarter of this year, overall investment in 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 this year added up to Lm30.4 million, a net increase of Lm6.2 million over the Lm24.2 million registered during the same period in 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 Lm2.3million increase.