Qatar’s industrial production up 1.2% m-o-m in July: PSA

Higher extraction of hydrocarbons and faster pace in the production, especially of refined petroleum products and chemicals, led Doha's industrial production index (IPI) jump 1.2% month-on-month in July, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

The country’s IPI however saw a 6.3% year-on-year shrinkage in July 2021. 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 1.2% increase on a monthly basis owing to a 1.2% expansion in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, even as there was a 5.2% decline in other mining and quarrying sectors.

On a yearly basis, the index showed a 6.7% decline on account of a 6.7% decrease in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; while there was a 14.4% growth in other mining and quarrying sectors.

The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, was up 0.8% month-on-month in July 2021 on account of 12.3% surge in the production of refined petroleum products and 1% in chemicals and chemical products.

Nevertheless, there was a 17.8% plunge in the printing and reproduction of recorded media, 8.7% in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 6.5% in food products, 6.1% in basic metals, 3.7% in rubber and plastics products and 23.1% in beverages.

On a yearly basis, the manufacturing index tanked 4.1% in July this year owing to 15.9% shrinkage in the production of beverages, 10.2% in refined petroleum products, 6.7% in food products and 5% in chemicals and chemical products.

However, there was an 11.6% expansion in the production of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 9% in rubber and plastics products and 3.4% in basic metals.

Electricity, which has 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw its index zoom 16% month-on-month but decline 5.7% on a monthly basis this July.

In the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 2.4% increase on a monthly basis, even as it reported 20.8% contraction year-on-year in July 2021.