Agriculture was the star performer in Jamaica’s growth in the second quarter
The Statin report goes on to state, this performance reflects an improvement of 6.3 percent in the Goods Producing industries and a 0.5 percent increase in the Services industries.In the June quarter, Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing grew 16.6 percent, Manufacture 4.1 percent and Construction 1.2 percent. Mining & Quarrying industry declined by 0.4 percent.
Manufacture benefited from a 111.9 percent increase in the production of sugar and a 26.1 percent growth in petroleum refining. Higher output levels in Construction resulted mainly from an increase in expenditure on road work activities, including the continued work on the North-South leg of Highway 2000. Lower production levels in the Mining &Quarrying industry was due to a fall in alumina production, resulting from the stoppage of activities at one of the alumina refining plant. However, crude bauxite production increased by 13.3 percent.
Increased output was recorded for all industries within the Services industries with the exception of the Producers of Government Services, down 0.2 percent and Electricity & Water Supply, down 1.6 percent. Higher output levels were recorded for; Hotels & Restaurants 2.3 percent, Other Services 1.1 percent, Transport, Storage & Communication 1 percent, Real Estate, Renting & Business Activities 0.6 percent. The sharp jump in sugar production in the second which is not in line with increased production with the overall 2014 sugar crop, meant that growth in the first quarter would have been negatively affected by a late take off of the cane crop in 2014 which benefited the second quarter.
