DOHA: The latest data released on the performance of Qatar’s industrial production show that the economic activities in November 2017 has registered a remarkable year-on-year increase, compared to the corresponding month in 2016.
When compared on monthly basis, the production, especially in the manufacturing and mining sectors, in November 2017 witnessed a relative correction compared to the previous month taking the monthly index slightly down compared to October 2017.
The Industrial Production index (IPI), for November 2017 amounted to 103.9 points, decreased by 1.5 percent compared to the previous month (October -2017). However, when compared on year-on-year basis, the IPI increased 7.1 percent in November 2017 compared to the same month in 2016, numbers released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics reveal.
The index (IPI) details out the growth of various industrial sectors of the Qatari economy such as “Mining”, “Manufacturing”, “Electricity production and “Water production and desalination”.
It is 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 that in a chosen period called the base period.
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 month-on-month analysis of the “Mining” sector index showed a decrease of 1 percent compared to the previous month (October of 2017), as a result of the decrease in the quantities of crude oil and natural gas produced by 1 percent, and an increase in “Other mining and quarrying” by 4.4 percent. When compared to the corresponding month of the previous year (November 2016), the IPI of Mining sector increased by 7.2 percent.
The “Manufacturing” index decreased by 3.1 percent in November 2017 compared to the previous month (October-2017), due to the decrease in production of three groups: “Manufacture of Beverages” by 9.5 percent, “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 6.7 percent, and “Manufacture of food products” by 1.5 percent”. However an increase was recorded in five groups : “Manufacture of Cement & other non-metallic mineral products” by 9.6 percent, “Manufacture of Basic metals” by 7.7 percent, Printing and reproduction of recorded media” by 7.2 percent, “Manufacture of Rubber and plastic products” by 4.9 percent, and “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 0.1 percent.
On the other hand, in terms of annual change, comparing to November 2016, an increase of 6.1 percent was recorded, affected by the following groups: “Manufacture of refined petroleum products” by 35.1 percent, “Manufacture of food products” by 19.9 percent, “Manufacture of basic metals” by 15.5 percent, “Manufacture of Beverages” by 2.4 percent, “Manufacture of chemicals and chemical products” by 0.4 percent, “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” by percent0.2. However a decline recorded in, “Manufacture of Cement & other non-metallic mineral products” by 11.7 percent, and Manufacture of Rubber and plastic products” by 8.3 percent.
A decrease of 19.9 percent in the production of “Electricity” group was noticed between November 2017 and the previous month (October-2017), while the annual increase (comparing with November 2016), was a 14.9 percent. In the “Water” sector, a decrease of 7.5 percent was noticed in November 2017 compared to the previous month, and on annual basis, a decrease of 2 percent was recorded when comparing with corresponding month November 2016.
