DOHA: Qatar’s Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) for October 2019 was estimated at 59.5 points, showing a decrease of 3.1 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI. When compared on year-on-year basis, the PPI of October, 2019 showed a decrease of 22.4 percent compared to the PPI of corresponding month last year (October 2018), official data released by Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
The producer price index covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent) with the base year prices of 2013.
The PPI of October 2019 for the Mining sector showed a decrease of 3.8 percent compared with PPI of September 2019, primarily due to the decrease of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” prices by 3.8 percent. PPI of October 2019, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (October 2018), there has been a decrease of 24.1 percent.
In the Manufacturing sector, a decrease of 2.1 percent has been recorded in October 2019, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (September 2019). The prices decrease was seen in “Basic Metals” by 3.1 percent, followed by “Refined Petroleum products” by 2.6 percent, and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 1.1 percent, and “Basic Chemicals” by 0.9 percent. However, the increasing prices are noticed in: “Paper and Paper products” by 1.0 percent, followed by “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 0.8 percent, “Juices”, “Dairy products”, and “Beverages” by 0.7 percent each, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.1 percent. No changes noticed in “Other chemical products and fibers”.
On year on year, (October 2018), “Manufacturing” PPI of October 2019 showed a decrease of 19.3 percent. The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 22.6 percent, “Basic chemicals” by 15.8 percent, “Basic Metals” by 13.0 percent, and “Cement and Other non-metallic products” 2.3 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 0.2 percent, and “Grain mill and other products” by 0.1 percent. However, prices increased in “Juices” by 3.1 percent, followed by “Beverages”, and “Paper and Paper Products” by 2.6 percent each, “Dairy products” by 1.8 percent, and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 0.7 percent.