KARACHI: The manufacturing of textile products registered a decline of 10.2 percent during the first four months of the current fiscal year, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics of production of large-scale manufacturing released on Monday.

Analysts attributed the fall in textile manufacturing to price fluctuations in the international market.

“The prices of textile-related items witnessed sharp increase by the start of FY11,” said Zubair Motiwala, a textile analyst.

“Besides, the energy crisis in the country also paralysed the industrial activities,” he said.

The central bank statistics revealed that the production of textiles fell by 10.2 percent in which production of cotton yarn registered a decline of 12.4 percent and cotton ginned by 10.5 percent.

Motiwala said that the local market had absorbed early shocks as textile exports jumped up by 22.8 percent in the first five months of the current fiscal year.

“The textile sector has foreign orders that would offset the early shortfalls,” he said.

The analyst, however, gave no weight to flood-related damages to the textile production.

The central bank data revealed that the overall large-scale manufacturing growth was down by 2.07 percent during July-October 2010.

The major dip was witnessed in petroleum products output that went down by 13.9 percent.

Analysts said that the production of petroleum products fell as refineries were not working on full capacity during the period.

The production of automobiles, however, registered 7.4 percent increase during the period. The production of cars and jeeps witnessed an increase of 18 percent during the period, while the production of LCVs and motorcycles also increased by 15.6 percent and seven percent, respectively.