Higher hydrocarbons extraction, chemicals and food products expansion lift Qatar’s IPI in February: PSA

Higher extraction of hydrocarbons as well as production of chemicals and food products led Qatar's industrial production index (IPI) jump 0.4% year-on-year this February, according to official statistics.

The country's IPI, however, fell 8.2% on a monthly basis in the review period, according to figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA 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 of 2013.

The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 82.46%, shot up 1% on a yearly basis due to 1% jump in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; even as there was 7.7% contraction in other mining and quarrying segments.

The sector index had seen a 9.5% contraction month-on-month in the review period owing to 9.5% plunge in extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; whereas there was a 2.1% increase in other mining and quarrying segments.

The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.85%, nevertheless fell 3.1% on a yearly basis on a 21.9% drop in the production of basic metals, 17.2% in refined petroleum products, 9.1% in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 5% in rubber and plastics products, 3.8% in beverages and 0.7% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products; even as there was a 5.3% surge in chemicals and chemical products and 2.9% in food products in February 2024.

On a monthly basis, the sector index was down 0.1% on account of a 14.3% decrease in the production of refined petroleum products, 6.2% in beverages, 3.7% in basic metals, 3.7% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 0.1% in rubber and plastics products in the review period.

However, there was a 5% expansion in the production of food products, 4.8% in chemicals and chemical products, and 4.7% in printing and reproduction of recorded media in February 2024.

Electricity, which has a 1.16% weight in the IPI basket, saw its index fall 3% and 11.1% year-on-year and month-on-month in the review period.

In the case of water, which has a 0.53% weight, the index was seen increasing 8.5% on an annualised basis whereas it shrank 9.5% on a monthly basis in the review period.