Doha: Qatar’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) for the month of, February 2020 declined by 3.3 percent to 101.4 points, compared to the previous month (January 2020). The IPI also declined at the same rate on year-on-year, according to data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority.
The Industrial Production Index consists of three main components: “Mining” with a relative importance of 83.6 percent, “Manufacturing” with a relative importance of 15.2 percent, “Electricity” with a relative importance of 0.7 percent, and finally “Water” with a relative importance of 0.5 percent.
The Mining sector showed a decrease by 3.5 percent on month-on-month, as a result of the decrease in the quantities of “crude oil and natural gas” by 3.6 percent. While “Other mining and quarrying” showed an increase by 1.6 percent. When compared to the corresponding month of the previous year, the IPI of Mining decreased by 3.2 percent.
The Manufacturing sector showed a decrease by 2.0 percent compared to the previous month. The groups showed decreases include: “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 11.7 percent, followed by “Manufacture of basic metals” by 6.3 percent, “Manufacture of food products” by 2.4 percent, “Manufacture of beverages” by 1.6 percent, and “Manufacture of Cement and other non-metallic mineral products” by 1.3 percent. However, an increase was recorded in two groups: “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 1.3 percent, and “Manufacture of rubber and plastics products” by 1.2 percent. No change noticed in “Printing and reproduction of recorded media”.
On the other hand, in terms of annual change, comparing to February 2019, a decrease of 3.8 percent was recorded, affected by the following groups: “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 18.6 percent, “Manufacture of Cement & other non-metallic mineral products” by 5.8 percent, “Manufacture of food products” by 5.0 percent, and “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 4.1 percent.
However, an increase recorded in, “Manufacture of basic metals” by 18.3 percent,”Manufacture of beverages” by 9.1 percent, “Manufacture of rubber and plastics products” by 2.8 percent, and “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” by 1.3 peercent.
A decrease of 5.9 percent was noticed in the production of “Electricity” between February 2020 and the previous month, while the annual decrease when comparing with February 2019, was 11.2 percent.
A decrease of 4.2 percent was noticed in the production of ‘‘Water’’ between February 2020 and the previous month. Comparing with corresponding month in 2019, a decrease of 4.1 percent was recorded.
