Hydrocarbons, manufacturing drive Qatar industrial production

Qatar’s industrial production saw robust gains this August both on yearly and monthly basis, mainly on the back of stronger hydrocarbons and manufacturing sectors, according to official estimates.

The country’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) showed a 4.7% and 2.5% jump year-on-year and monthon-month respectively in August this year, said the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).

The ministry 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%, reported a 5.7% jump year-on-year in August 2018 owing to a 5.7% increase in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, while other mining and quarrying sectors witnessed 3.3% decline. On a monthly basis, the index showed a 2.2% jump as the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas grew 2.6%; even as there was a 1.6% decline in other mining and quarrying.

The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, showed a 2% increase year-on-year this August on account of a 7.1% expansion in the manufacture of rubber and plastics products, 4% in beverages, and 3.3% each in chemical products and basic metals; whereas there was a 7.9% in manufacture of food products, 3.9% shrinkage in manufacture of cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 3.4% in printing and reproduction of recorded media and 1.9% in refined petroleum products.

On a monthly basis, the manufacturing index soared 4.8% on an 8.4% increase in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, 3.2% in basic metals and 1.1% in beverages; even as there was 4.6% decline in the manufacture of rubber and plastics products, 4.3% in refined petroleum products, 2.6% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 1.4% in printing and reproduction of recorded media and 0.8% in food products.

Electricity, which has 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw an 11.8% plunge on a yearly basis and a marginal 0.1% fall on a monthly basis. In the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 17.4% and 4.9% contraction year-on-year and month-on-month basis respectively.

This file photo taken on February 1, 2006 shows an oil refinery on the outskirts of Doha. The mining and quarrying sector, which has a relative weight of 83.6%, reported a 5.7% jump year-on-year in August 2018 owing to a 5.7% increase in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas.