Doha: Qatar’s Industrial Production index (IPI) for April 2021 stood at 99.8 points, showing a marginal decrease of 0.9 percent compared to the previous month (March 2021). When compared on year-on-year basis, the IPI index has increased by 1.7 percent compared to the corresponding month in 2020, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
The Mining sector showed a decrease by 0.4 percent compared to the previous month, as a result of the decrease in the quantities of “crude oil petroleum and natural gas” by 0.4 percent, while “Other mining and quarrying” showed an increase by 0.4 percent. When compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (April 2020), the IPI of Mining increased by 2.6 percent.
The index of Manufacturing sector showed a decrease of 3.2 percent recorded in April 2021 compared to the previous month (March 2021), which refer to decrease in the following groups: “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” by 14.1 percent, followed by “Manufacture of Cement and other non-metallic mineral products” by 10.6 percent, “Manufacture of food products” by 7.9 percent, “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 6.3 percent, “Manufacture of beverages” by 4.0 percent, and “Manufacture of basic metals” by 2.5 percent.
However, an increase was recorded in two groups: “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 15.6 percent and “Manufacture of rubber and plastics products” by 0.8 percent.
In terms of annual change, comparing to April 2020, a decrease of 1.4 percent was recorded, affected by the following groups: “Manufacture of food products” by 17.4 percent, “Manufacture of beverages” by 11.7 percent, and “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 9.5 percent.
However, an increase was recorded in “Manufacture of Cement & other non-metallic mineral products” by 41.4 percent, “Manufacture of basic metals” by 23.8 percent, “Manufacture of rubber and plastics products” by 16.2 percent, and “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 8.7 percent. There was no production for “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” in April 2020 in adherence to the procedures taken to prevent the spread of the COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the index also showed an increase of 4.9 percent in the production of ‘Electricity’ group between April 2021 and the previous month (March 2021), while no change was noticed when compared with the index of the corresponding month last year (April 2020).
