Doha: Qatar’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) for January 2020 stood at 104.9 points, showing a decrease of 1.8 percent compared to the previous month (December 2019). When compared on year-on-year basis, the IPI index has decreased by 2.1 percent compared to the corresponding month of 2019, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority show.
The Mining sector showed a decrease by 1.3 percent compared to the previous month, as a result of the decrease in the quantities of ‘crude oil and natural gas’ by 1.3 percent, while ‘Other mining and quarrying’ also showed a decrease by 0.3 percent. When compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (January 2019), the IPI of Mining decreased by 2.1 percent.
The index of Manufacturing showed a decrease of 3.8 percent recorded in January 2020 compared to the previous month, which refer to decrease in the following groups: ‘Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products’ by 6.7 percent, followed by ‘Manufacture of refined petroleum products’ by 5.4 percent, and ‘Manufacture of beverages’ by 1.1 percent.
However, an increase was recorded in three groups: ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ by 8.9 percent, followed by ‘Manufacture of Cement and other non-metallic mineral products’ by 4.7 percent, and ‘Manufacture of food products’ by 0.3 percent. No change has been recorded in ‘Printing and reproduction of recorded media’ and ‘Manufacture of rubber and plastics products’.
In terms of annual change, comparing to January 2019, a decrease of 2.1 percent was recorded, affected by the following groups: ‘Manufacture of refined petroleum products’ by 10.1 percent, ‘Manufacture of Cement & other non-metallic mineral products’ by 6.9 percent, ‘Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products’ by 4.4 percent, and ‘Manufacture of food products’ by 2.3 percent.
However, an increase was also recorded in ‘Manufacture of basic metals’ by 23.0 percent, ‘Manufacture of beverages’ by 10.8 percent, ‘Printing and reproduction of recorded media’ by 1.3 percent, and ‘Manufacture of rubber and plastics products’ by 0.9 percent.
The index shows a decrease of 8.5 percent in the production of ‘Electricity’ group between January 2020 and the previous month (December 2019), while the annual decrease (comparing with January 2019), was 12.8 percent, and the index of the Water sector when compared between January 2020 and the previous month, a decrease of 2.7 percent was noticed.
Comparing with corresponding month (January 2019), a decrease of 4.5 percent was recorded.
