Higher hydrocarbons extraction, chemicals and food products expansion lift Qatar’s IPI in February: PSA

An oil refinery on the outskirts of Doha (file). Higher extraction of hydrocarbons as well as production of chemicals and food products led Qatar’s industrial production index (IPI) to jump 0.4% year-on-year this February, according to figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

Higher extraction of hydrocarbons as well as production of chemicals and food products led Qatar’s industrial production index (IPI) jump 0.4% year-on-year this February, according to official statistics.

The country’s IPI, however, fell 8.2% on a monthly basis in the review period, according to figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA 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 of 2013.

The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 82.46%, shot up 1% on a yearly basis due to 1% jump in the extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; even as there was 7.7% contraction in other mining and quarrying segments.

The sector index had seen a 9.5% contraction month-on-month in the review period owing to 9.5% plunge in extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; whereas there was a 2.1% increase in other mining and quarrying segments.

The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.85%, nevertheless fell 3.1% on a yearly basis on a 21.9% drop in the production of basic metals, 17.2% in refined petroleum products, 9.1% in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 5% in rubber and plastics products, 3.8% in beverages and 0.7% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products; even as there was a 5.3% surge in chemicals and chemical products and 2.9% in food products in February 2024.

On a monthly basis, the sector index was down 0.1% on account of a 14.3% decrease in the production of refined petroleum products, 6.2% in beverages, 3.7% in basic metals, 3.7% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 0.1% in rubber and plastics products in the review period.

However, there was a 5% expansion in the production of food products, 4.8% in chemicals and chemical products, and 4.7% in printing and reproduction of recorded media in February 2024.

Electricity, which has a 1.16% weight in the IPI basket, saw its index fall 3% and 11.1% year-on-year and month-on-month in the review period.

In the case of water, which has a 0.53% weight, the index was seen increasing 8.5% on an annualised basis whereas it shrank 9.5% on a monthly basis in the review period.