Doha: The Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of Industrial Sector for May 2020 was estimated at 34.2 points showing a decrease of 4.7 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI (April, 2020).
When compared on year-on-year basis, the index showed a decrease of 46.2 percent compared to the PPI of corresponding month last year (May 2019), official data released yesterday by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
Producer price index (PPI) covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent). The PPI of May 2020 for Mining sector showed a decrease by 7.1 percent when compared with PPI of April 2019, primarily due to the price decline of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 6.8 percent.
PPI of May 2020, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (May 2019), there was a decrease of 53.5 percent. In the Manufacturing PPI, a decrease of 1.5 percent was recorded in May 2020, when compared with the previous month’s index.
The prices decrease were seen in: “Refined Petroleum products” by 4.3 percent, followed by “Rubber and Plastics products” by 3.0 percent, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.8 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 0.4 percent. However, the increasing prices are noticed in “Basic Metals” by 3.5 percent, “Cement and Other nonmetallic products” by 1.3 percent, “Dairy products” and “Basic Chemicals” by 1.1 percent each, and “Beverages” by 0.4 percent, No changes noticed in “Juices”, and “Paper and Paper products”.
Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (May 2019), “Manufacturing” PPI of May 2020 showed a decrease of 32.0 percent. The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 42.4 percent, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 22.3 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 8.9 percent, “Basic Metals” by 3.8 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 1.9 percent, and “Beverages” by 1.2 percent. However, prices increased in by “Paper and Paper Products” by 3.0 percent, followed by “Juices” by 2.6 percent, “Dairy products” by 1.5 percent, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.3 percent, and “Cement and Other non-metallic products” 0.1 percent.
The PPI of Electricity and Water group showed a marginal decrease of 0.7 percent compared to April 2020, resulting from the decrease in “Electricity” by 6.7 percent, and increasing in “Water” by 7.7 percent. When compared the PPI of May 2020, to the PPI of May, 2019, the index showed a decrease of 8.6 percent, affected by prices fall in “Electricity” by 10.0 percent, and “Water” by 6.9 percent.
