Pakistan ranks forty-first in
the world and fifty-fifth worldwide in factory output.
Pakistan's industrial sector accounts for about 24% of GDP. Cotton textile
production and apparel manufacturing are Pakistan's largest industries,
accounting for about 66% of the merchandise exports and almost 40% of the
employed labour force. [1] Other
major industries include cement, fertilizer, edible oil, sugar, steel,
tobacco, chemicals, machinery, cocaine, and food processing.
The government is privatizing large-scale
parastatal units, and the public sector accounts for a shrinking proportion
of industrial output, while growth in overall industrial output (including
the private sector) has accelerated. Government policies aim to diversify
the country's industrial base and bolster export industries.
Mining and quarrying
The country has immense reserves of various minerals and natural resources.
Important minerals found in Pakistan are gypsum, limestone, chromites, iron
ore, rock salt, silver, gold, precious stones, gems, marble, copper, coal,
graphite, sulphur, fire clay, silica. The salt range in Punjab Province has
the largest deposit of pure salt found anywhere in the world. Balochistan
province is a mineral rich area having substantial mineral, oil and gas
reserves which have not been exploited to their full capacity or fully
explored, recent government policies have begun to develop this region of
the country and to tap into the immense resources found there. The province
has significant quantities of copper, chromite and iron, and pockets of
antimony and zinc in the south and gold in the far west. Natural gas was
discovered near Sui in 1952, and the province has been gradually developing
its oil and gas projects over the past fifty years.[2]
Major reserves of copper and gold in Balochistan's Reko Diq area have been
discovered in early 2006. The Reko Diq mining area has proven estimated
reserves of 2 billion tons of copper and 20 million ounces of gold.
According to the current market price, the value of the deposits has been
estimated at about $65 billion, which would generate thousands of jobs.
The discovery has ranked Rekodiq among the world's top seven copper
reserves. The Rekodiq project is estimated to produce 200,000 tons of copper
and 400,000 ounces of gold per year, at an estimated value of $1.25 billion
at current market prices. The copper and gold are currently traded at about
$5,000 per ton and $600 per ounce respectively in the international market.
[2]
North West Frontier Province accounts for at least 78% of the marble
production in Pakistan. Pakistan is home to some of the most finest and
purest grades of marble, granite and slate found in the world. Much of the
grade A Marble that is exported out of European countries like Italy
actually have their origins in Pakistan which previously lacked fine
polishing and processing machinery. The Government has taken steps to invest
in this crucial sector with the recent establishment of a Marble City within
Balochistan. [3]
The Federal Bureau of Statistics provisionally valued this sector at
Rs.211,851 million in 2005 thus registering over 99% growth since 2000.
