The Producer Price Index (PPI) of the industrial sector in the State of Qatar for Feb. 2023 decreased 3.42 percent from the past month and 7.23 percent year-over-year Y-o-Y, official data showed Friday.

Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) has released the new Monthly PPI of the Industrial sector for February 2023, which calculated based on 2018 where the details of relative importance and prices for the base year of 2018 are used, Therefor the relatives of the main four industry sectors become as follow: "Mining" (weight: 82.46 percent), "Manufacturing" (weight: 15.85 percent), "Electricity" (weight: 1.15 percent), and "Water" (weight: 0.52 percent).

The PPI for February 2023 is estimated at 125.16 points showing a decrease of 3.42 percent, when compared to the previous month's January 2023. On Y-o-Y basis, PPI of February 2023 showed a decrease of 7.23 percent, when compared to the PPI of February 2022.

According to PSA, the PPI of February 2023 for Mining and Quarrying sector showed a decrease by 3.60 percent when compared with PPI of January 2023, primarily due to the price decrease on "Crude petroleum and natural gas" by 3.60 percent, while "Other mining and quarrying" increased by 0.02 percent. PPI of Mining of February 2023, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (February 2022), there was a decrease of 5.46 percent Meanwhile, decrease of 3.23 percent has been recorded in February 2023, when compared with the previous month's Manufacturing index (January 2023). The prices decrease is seen in: "Basic metals" by 5.35 percent, followed "Refined petroleum products" by 5.28 percent, "Chemicals and chemical products" by 3.00 percent, and "Rubber and plastics products" by 2.25 percent. The increasing prices are noticed in "Cement & other non-metallic mineral products" by 0.45 percent, "Beverages" by 0.34 percent, and "Food products" by 0.14 percent. no change noticed in "Printing and reproduction of recorded media" in February 2023.

Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (February 2022), "Manufacturing" PPI of February 2023 showed a decrease of 17.15 percent. The major groups which explain this price decrease are: "chemicals and chemical products" by 25.19 percent, followed by "Basic metals" by 11.93 percent, and "Refined Petroleum products" by 1.07 percent. However, the increasing prices are noticed in: "Printing and reproduction of recorded media" by 13.20 percent, followed by "Food products" by 6.10 percent, "Rubber and Plastics products" by 2.20 percent, "Beverages" by 1.31 percent, and "Cement & other non-metallic mineral products" by 0.74 percent.

The PPI of (Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply) group showed an increase of 3.71 percent compared to January 2023. When compared the PPI of February 2023, to the PPI of February 2022 Y-o-Y, showed an increase of 5.15 percent.

The PPI of water supply group showed an increase of 7.27 percent compared to January 2023. When compared the PPI of February 2023, to the PPI of February 2022 Y-o-Y, showed an increase of 6.84 percent.

Source: Qatar News Agency