Qatar's producers' price index (PPI) surged 44.18% year-on-year in September 2022, mainly on the back of the country's hydrocarbons sector and certain manufacturing businesses such as refined petroleum products, rubber and plastics, and basic metals and according to the official estimates.
Qatar's PPI, which captures the price pressure felt by the producers of goods and services, eased 2.08% 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, on account of higher inflation and interest rates, had its reflection in the PPI.
The mining PPI, which carries the maximum weight of 82.46%, reported a 52.63% surge on an annualised basis in September 2022 as the average selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas was seen soaring 52.69% and that of stone, sand and clay by 9.77%.
The mining PPI shrank 1.88% on a monthly basis in September this year on the back of a 1.89% decline in the average selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas, while that of stone, sand and clay was unchanged.
The manufacturing sector PPI, which has a weight of 15.85% in the basket, rose 5.81% year-on-year in September 2022 due to a 27.22% growth in the average price of rubber and plastics products, 23.29% in refined petroleum products, 12.34% in basic metals, 6.51% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 3.36% in food products and 0.03% in chemicals and chemical products.
Nevertheless, there was 3.49% decline in printing and reproduction of recorded media and 1.35% in beverages.
The manufacturing sector PPI saw a monthly 4.1% dip this September as the average selling price of rubber and plastics products shrank 10.5%, chemicals and chemical products (6.29%) and basic metals (2.14%).
However, there was a 0.87% jump in the average selling price of refined petroleum products, 0.55% in food products, 0.16% in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 0.12% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 0.02% in beverages.
The index of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply reported 5.47% and 7.14% increase on yearly and monthly basis respectively this September.
The index of water supply expanded 1.78% and 2.53% year-on-year and month-on-month respectively in September 2022.