THE PRODUCTIVE sectors of the economy have experienced what is being described as yet another year of "contrasting growth and decline" in output during 2002.
This is contained in the Production Statistics 2002, a publication of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).
According to the publication, which was tabled in the House last week, with the exception of a few crops, production in the agricultural sector experienced a general decline in volume when compared to 2001. "In mining, however, both bauxite and alumina production increased in quantity of output over the 2001 totals."
The performance of the manufacturing sector in 2002 showed mixed results, with growth in some areas and decline in others. Data, however, continued to be unavailable for a number of products, therefore preventing a proper assessment of the sector.
An analysis by sector shows that the agricultural sector experienced an overall decline in output in 2002. The majority of the traditional export crops cultivated during the year showed decreases in the quantity produced. Only coffee (13,566 metric tonnes), ginger (295 metric tonnes) and onions (1,050 metric tonnes) had increases in production above the 2001 levels.
All of the crops in the 'vegetable, pulse and legumes' category for 2002 showed varying levels of decline in production, STATIN said. This is in contrast to increases recorded during 2001.
The crop with the highest rate of decline in 2002 was escallion, the production of which fell from 17,507 metric tonnes in 2001 to 8225 metric tonnes in 2002, a decrease of 53.0 pe rcent. Also, while the water melon crop had the highest growth rate in 2001 when compared to 2000 - 61.0 per cent, in contrast, this crop experienced the second highest rate of decline in output in 2002, moving from 14857 metric tonnes to 8068 metric tonnes, a decrease of 45.7 per cent when compared to 2001.
Celery and beetroot continued to decrease in output for the second consecutive year, showing a decline of 25.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively when compared to 2001. All the other crops in this category, including carrots, cabbage, turnips, egg plants, thyme, tomatoes and pumpkin, reversed the increases in production that were recorded in 2001, experiencing varying levels of decline in 2002.
ONION
In the 'other crops' category, the only crop to record increased production in 2002 was onion, which increased by 33.2 per cent from the 788 metric tonnes in 2001, to reach 1050 metric tonnes in 2002. The production of all other crops in this category decreased in output when compared to 2001. Of these, the highest rates of decline were recorded for rice, Irish potatoes and sweet potatoes, decreasing by 68.7 per cent, 19.6 per cent and 19.5 per cent respectively.
MINING
In the area of mining, bauxite production in 2002 stood at 13,139 thousand tonnes, an increase of 8.2 per cent above the previous year's output. Alumina output exceeded the 2001 level by 2.5 per cent, increasing to 3650 thousand tonnes, a reversal of the 1.6 per cent decline experienced in 2001 when compared to 2000. Data on gypsum were unavailable for 2002.
The quantities of bauxite and alumina produced during 2002 were at their highest level for the past decade.
On examination of the quarterly information, bauxite output increased for all quantities except that of September 2002 quarter, with a decline of 1.4 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2001. In contrast, the December 2002 quarterly bauxite production of 3446 thousand tonnes showed an increase of 33.6 per cent above the previous year's December quarter of 2580 thousand tonnes, which in turn reflected a nine per cent decline below the 2835 thousand tonnes produced in the corresponding quarter of 2000.
MANUFACTURING
Available data on production in the manufacturing sector indicated that there was increased production in some areas. While there was also a high rate of declining production in other areas, analysis could not be done for some products at the time of printing because data were unavailable.
FOOD AND DRINK
In 2002, information obtained from the 'meat and meat products' category showed that poultry meat and sausages/frank-furters/bologna recorded increases in output over the 2001 level. The production of bacon (255 thousand kilograms) was the same quantity as for 2001, and ham produced (195 thousand kilograms) was 15.9 per cent lower than the 232,000 kilograms recorded in 2001.
The production of condensed milk showed a decrease of 23.5 per cent in 2002, moving from 17,000 tonnes in 2001 to 13 thousand tonnes in 2002.
In the 'flour and bakery products' category, flour production of 126858 thousand kilograms in 2002, reflected a decrease from the previous year's quantity, continuing a trend of declining production that began in 1998. However, cornmeal production of 15031 thousand tonnes was an increase of 60.8 per cent above the 9347 thousand kilograms output recorded in 2001.
SUGAR
Sugar production of 174949 metric tonnes and molasses output of 79653 metric tonnes in 2002, decreased by 14.7 per cent and 8.4 per cent respectively, below the previous year's output. Decreases in the output of both products for the March and June quarters of 2002 contributed to the overall reduction in the quantities of sugar and molasses produced during 2002.
In contrast, the volumes of rum and alcohol produced in 2002 exceeded the 2001 levels, increasing to 21193 and 534 thousand litres respectively. The rate of increase in production was more significant for alcohol than for rum, with the production of rum increasing by 2.1 per cent above the 2001 level to reach the highest volume produced in the past decade.
The production of alcohol increased from 194 thousand litres in 2001 to 534 thousand litres in 2002, an increase of 175.3 per cent.
The production of beer and stout stood at 77,551 thousand litres in 2002, a 1.3 per cent decline in output from the 2001 level, reversing the increase that occurred in 2000.
Cigarette production continued its increase in 2002, while cigar production decreased by 64.0 per cent below the 2001 level, showing an output of 35907 thousand units in 2002.
