Qatar's producers' price index (PPI) surged 87.79% year-on-year in April 2022 as the country's hydrocarbons sector and certain manufacturing businesses such as refined petroleum products, chemicals, basic metals and rubber and plastics faced significant price pressure, according to the official estimates.Qatar's PPI, which captures the price pressure felt by the producers of goods and services, rose 10.74% on a monthly basis in the review period, the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) said.The PSA had released a new PPI series in late 2015. With a base of 2013, it draws on an updated sampling frame and new weights. The previous sampling frame dates from 2006, when the Qatari economy was much smaller than today and the range of products made domestically much narrower.The hardening of the global crude oil and industrial input prices had its reflection in the PPI.The mining PPI, which carries the maximum weight of 82.46%, reported a 99.65% surge year-on-year in April 2022 as the average selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas was seen soaring 99.81% and that of stone, sand and clay by 14.08%.The mining PPI escalated 11.77% on a monthly basis in April this year on the back of an 11.79% jump in the average selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas and 1.95% in stone, sand and clay.The manufacturing sector PPI, which has a weight of 15.85% in the basket, zoomed 46.72% year-on-year in April 2022 due to a 71.12% escalation in the average price of refined petroleum products, 51.11% in chemicals and chemical products, 35.33% in basic metals, 34.03% in rubber and plastics products, 13.66% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 0.44% in food products.However, there was a 2.62% decline in the average price of beverages and 1.01% in printing and reproduction of recorded media.The manufacturing sector PPI saw a monthly 5.85% expansion this April as the average selling price of refined petroleum products shot up 8.5%, chemicals and chemical products (6.29%), basic metals (5.39%), printing and reproduction of recorded media (1.46%), cement and other non-metallic mineral products (0.9%) and beverages (0.61%).Nevertheless, there was a 1.96% decline in the average price of rubber and plastics products and 0.74% in food products.The index of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply reported 7.85% and 0.31% growth year-on-year and month-on-month respectively this April.The index of water supply saw 7.76% weakened on a yearly basis but reported a 0.74% jump month-on-month in April 2022.
May 31, 2022 | 08:05 PM