Qatar cement production surges in September amid scaling back of Covid restrictions: PSA

Qatar witnessed a robust monthly growth in printing and in the production of cement, basic metals and rubber and plastic products this September, as the country scaled back the Covid-19 restrictions; even as its overall industrial production was on the decline, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).
The country’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) declined 3.9% and 7.7% month-on-month and year-on-year respectively in September 2020, 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 3.6% shrinkage month-on-month on account of 3.6% dip in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas and 0.5% in other mining and quarrying sectors.
On a yearly basis, the index showed a 7.7% fall owing to a 7.7% decline in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas and 4.8% in other mining and quarrying sectors.
The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, saw a 5.6% decline month-on-month in September owing to a 26.4% plunge in the production of refined petroleum products, 3.9% in chemicals and chemical products, 3.7% in food products and 3.4% in beverages. Nevertheless, there was a 9.7% increase in the printing and reproduction of recorded media, 9.1% in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 8.3% in basic metals and 8% in rubber and plastics products.
On a yearly basis, the manufacturing index shrank 8.7% as there was 83.8% drop in the printing and reproduction of recorded media, 31.6% in the production of refined petroleum products, 4.6% in basic metals, 3.1% each in cement and other non-metallic mineral products and chemical and chemical products, 2.3% in beverages and 1.2% in food products; whereas there was a 9.8% jump in the production of rubber and plastics products.
Electricity, which has a 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw its index shrink 4.4% on monthly basis but jumped 3.9% on yearly basis in September 2020.
In the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 2.1% decrease month-on-month; even as it soared 7% year-on-year this September.