Doha: Qatar’s overall Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of Industrial Sector for October 2020 was estimated at 44.2 points showing an increase of 5.0 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI (September 2020), official data showed. When compared on annual basis, the PPI of October 2020 showed a decrease of 25.7 percent compared to the PPI of corresponding month last year, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
Producer price index covers covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent).
The PPI of October 2020 for the Mining sector showed an increase by 5.8 percent when compared with PPI of September 2020, primarily due to the price increase of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 5.8 percent, while “Stone, Sand and Clay” decreased by 0.5 percent.
The PPI of October 2020, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (October 2019), there was a decrease of 30.8 percent.
For the Manufacturing sector index, an increase of 3.7 percent has been recorded in October 2020, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (September 2020). The increase prices are seen in: “Refined Petroleum products” by 5.9 percent, followed by “Basic Metals” by 5.4 percent, “Paper and Paper products” by 1.0 percent, “Juices” by 0.5 percent, “Dairy products” by 0.3 percent, and “Beverages” by 0.1 percent.
However, the decreasing prices are noticed in “Other chemical products and fibers” by 3.3 percent, “Basic Chemicals” and “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 1.7 percent each, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 0.8 percent, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.5 percent. Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (October 2019), “Manufacturing” PPI of October 2020 showed a decrease of 15.3 percent.
The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 19.6 percent, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 16.6 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 6.9 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 4.9 percent, Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 4.1 percent, “Dairy products” by 1.9 percent, “Beverages” by 0.5 percent, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.4 percent,
However, prices increased in “Basic Metals” by 7.0 percent, and “Juices” and “Paper and Paper Products” by 5.0 percent each.
The PPI of Electricity and Water group showed an increase of 9.0 percent compared to September 2020, resulting from rise in “Water” by 12.3 percent, and “Electricity” by 6.1 percent.
When compared the PPI of October 2020, to the PPI of October 2019 [Y-o-Y], also showed an increase of 5.3 percent, affected by prices rise in “Water” by 5.7 percent and in “Electricity” by 5.1 percent.
