The economic blockade imposed by the siege countries appears not to have dented Qatar’s industrial sector, which showed robust expansion in September on higher production especially in the hydrocarbons and manufacturing sectors, according to official estimates.
Qatar’s industrial production index (IPI) grew 6.2% month-on-month in September this year mainly on account of production increase in crude and natural gas as well as refined petroleum products and rubber and plastics.
The Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics introduced IPI, a short-term quantitative index that measures the changes in the volume of production of a selected basket of industrial products over a given period with respect to a base period 2013.
On a yearly basis, the country’s IPI showed a 7.4% jump this September primarily on higher production of refined petroleum products, food products, electricity and crude and natural gas.
The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 83.6%, expanded 8.3% on a monthly basis in September 2017 on the back of a 8.3% rise in extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; even as there was an 18.3% decline in other mining and quarrying activities.
On a yearly basis, the index showed an 8.2% growth on an 8.3% increase in the extraction of crude and natural gas; whereas other mining and quarrying index slumped 22.1%.
However, the manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, showed a 3.1% decline month-on-month in September this year owing to a 9.1% drop in the production of beverages, 7.6% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 4.9% in chemicals and chemical products and 3.5% in food products.
Nevertheless, there was a 3.7% increase in the production of refined petroleum products, 2.1% in rubber and plastics products, 0.9% in printing and reproduction of recorded media and 0.2% in basic metals.
On a yearly basis, the manufacturing index rather shot up 3.2% with refined petroleum products’ production soaring 36.1%, food products (23.5%), printing and reproduction of recorded media (7.4%) and basic metals (0.4%); whereas that of cement and other non-metallic mineral products shrank 11.2%, beverages (5.2%), chemicals and chemical products (2%) and rubber and plastics products (1.9%).
Electricity, which has 0.7% weight in the PIP basket, saw a 5.2% decline on a monthly basis but reported 13% expansion on a yearly basis; while in the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 4.9% and 6.5% decline month-on-month and year-on-year.
Business / Business
Qatar’s industrial sector sees robust expansion in September
This file photo taken on February 1, 2006 shows an oil refinery on the outskirts of Doha. The economic blockade appears not to have dented Qatar’s industrial sector as the industrial production index (IPI) grew 6.2% month-on-month in September.
