Doha: Qatar’s overall monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of Industrial Sector for August 2020 was estimated at 40.9 points showing an increase of 4.9 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI (July 2020), official data showed. When compared on annual basis, the PPI of August 2020 showed a decrease of 33.1 percent compared to the PPI of corresponding month last year, data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) show.
Producer price index covers goods relating to “Mining” (weight: 72.7 percent), “Manufacturing” (weight: 26.8 percent), and “Electricity & Water” (weight: 0.5 percent). The PPI of August, 2020 for Mining sector showed an increase by 7.1 percent when compared with PPI of July 2020, primarily due to the price increase of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 7.1 percent, and “Stone, Sand and Clay” increased by 1.1 percent.
The PPI of August 2020, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (August 2019), there was a decrease of 38.8 percent. Graph (1) showed the monthly movement of “Mining” index during August 2019 and August 2020, while Graph (2) showed the monthly rate of change in General PPI and Mining. For the Manufacturing sector index, an increase of 2.2 percent has been recorded in August 2020, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (July, 2020).
The increase prices were seen in: “Basic Chemicals” by 2.5 percent, followed by “Refined Petroleum products” by 2.4 percent, “Paper and Paper products” by 2.0 percent, “Basic Metals” by 1.5 percent, and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 1.3 percent.
However, the decreasing prices are noticed in “Juices” by 2.4 percent, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 1.9 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 1.8 percent, “Dairy products” by 0.8 percent, “Grain mill and other products” by 0.4 percent, and “Beverages” by 0.1 percent. Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (August 2019), “Manufacturing” PPI of August 2020 showed a decrease of 21.4 percent.
The major groups which explain this price fall are: “Refined Petroleum products” by 26.6 percent, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 16.7 percent, “Basic Metals” by 11.5 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 7.6 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 4.2 percent, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 2.2 percent, and “Dairy products” by 1.6 percent. However, prices increased in “Paper and Paper Products” by 4.5 percent, followed by “Juices” by 3.8 percent, “Beverages” by 0.5 percent, and “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.2 percent.
The PPI of Electricity and Water group showed an increase of 2.1 percent compared to July 2020, resulting from rise in “Water” by 2.2 percent, and “Electricity” by 1.8 percent. When compared the PPI of August, 2020, to the PPI of August, 2019 (Y-o-Y), showed also an increase of 0.6 percent, affected by prices rise in “Water” by 1.8 percent, but decline in “Electricity” by 0.6 percent.
