Higher extraction of hydrocarbons and robust expansion in the production of beverages and refined petroleum products have led Qatar's industrial production report a marginal 0.3% year-on-year growth in December 2018, according to the official estimates.
The country's Industrial Production Index (IPI) however showed a 0.6% decline month-on-month in December 2018, 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 2013.
The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 83.6%, saw a 1.3% surge year-on-year in December 2018 owing to a 1.4% increase in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; even as other mining and quarrying plummeted 5.1%.
On a monthly basis, the index showed a 0.3% dip as the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas contracted 0.3% and other mining and quarrying by 1.1%.
The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, showed a 4.5% shrinkage year-on-year in December 2018 on account of a 14.9% fall in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 14.1% in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 5.3% in the production of chemicals and chemical products, 5.2% in production of basic metals and 0.8% in rubber and plastics products.
Nevertheless, there was a 10.9% jump in the production of beverages, 2.6% in refined petroleum products and 2% in food products.
On a monthly basis, the manufacturing index had witnessed a 1.5% decline on a 3.6% contraction in the production of beverages, 3.1% in refined petroleum products, 2% in food products, 1.4% in basic metals and 1.2% in chemicals and chemical products; whereas rubber and plastics production grew 0.5% and cement and other non-metallic mineral products (0.4%).
Electricity, which has a 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw its index contract 3.1% and 20.7% on yearly and monthly basis respectively in December 2018; whereas in the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 6.6% deceleration in the index year-on-year but saw a marginal 0.8% growth on a monthly basis.

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