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By Santhosh V. Perumal
A fall in the prices of hydrocarbons, basic chemicals and basic metals led Qatar’s producers’ price index (PPI) to decline 1.7% in September this year compared to the previous month, according to official figures.
Qatar’s PPI for the industrial sector – a measure of the average selling prices received by the domestic producers for their output – reported a 16.7% decline year-on-year in September 2016 on lower prices of crude and natural gas, basic metals and basic chemicals, according to figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).
MDPS had released a new PPI series in late 2015. With the base year of 2013, it draws on an updated sampling frame and new weights. The previous sampling frame dates from 2006, when the Qatari economy was much smaller than today and the range of products made domestically much narrower.
The PPI for the mining sector, which carries the maximum weight of 72.7%, saw its group index fall 2.1% month-on-month in September this year on the back of a 2.1% decrease in the price of crude and natural gas and 0.4% in stone, sand and clay.
The PPI for mining witnessed the maximum plunge of 20% year-on-year in September 2016 owing to a 20.1% slump in the price of crude petroleum and natural gas; although stone, sand and clay prices firmed up 1.6%.
The utilities group, which has a mere 0.5% weight in the PPI basket, saw its index shrink 1.4% in September this year compared with August, although there was a huge 5.9% decline in electricity prices. Water prices, nevertheless, soared 4.1%.
The index however had risen 4.5% year-on-year in September, squarely on a 9.9% plunge in the price of electricity; but water prices soared 27.2%.
The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of 26.8% in the PPI basket, witnessed a mere 0.5% fall in its index month-on-month in September because of an 8.2% shrinkage in the price of basic metals, 5.9% in basic chemicals, 0.5% in dairy products, 0.4% in cement and other non-metallic products, 0.3% in beverages and 0.2% in grain mill and other products.
Nevertheless, there was a 6.4% increase in the price of rubber and plastic products, 5.7% in man-made fibres, 4.1% in juices and 2.9% in refined petroleum products.
The manufacturing sector PPI had seen a 9.5% shrinkage year-on-year in September 2016 on account of a 17.7% plunge in the price of basic chemicals, 108% in basic metals, 7.7% in refined petroleum products, 1.8% in dairy products and 1% in grain mill and other products; whereas there was a 19.6% jump in the price of juices, 16.1% in man-made fibres, 10.2% in rubber and plastic products and 3.2% in beverages.
Paper and paper products’ prices were unchanged both month-on-month and year-on-year in September 2016.
© Gulf Times 2016
