Qatar’s Feb PPI up 4.22% m-o-m, soars 65.69% y-o-y

Producer-price index (PPI) in Qatar increased 4.22 percent in February from the previous month, but rose sharply by 65.69 percent from a year ago, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority, which estimated the PPI for January 2022 at 97.26 points.
PPI, which measures either the average change in the price of goods as they leave the place of production or as they enter the production process, covers goods related to a range of products produced domestically.
The PPI for mining, which carries a maximum weightage of 72.7 percent, saw an increase of 5.37 percent in February month-on-month and a jump of 72.68 percent year-on-year.
The PSA report attributed the m-o-m rise to increase in producer prices of crude petroleum and natural gas by 5.38 percent. Stone, sand and clay declined by 0.13 percent.
The manufacturing index, which has a weightage of 26.8 percent in the index, increased 2.17 percent in February month-on-month, mostly on the back of rise in prices in four groups — refined petroleum products by 5.74 percent, Juices by 2.92 percent, grain mill and other products by 0.50 percent and rubber and plastics products by 0.46 percent.
However, the sector saw prices falls in five groups — basic chemicals by 3.59 percent, basic metals by 2.48 percent, cement and other non-metallic products by 0.46 percent, dairy products by 0.12 percent and beverages by 0.02 percent. No change is recorded in the groups of other chemical products and fibre and paper and paper products.
On a year-on-year comparison, the manufacturing PPI of January surged 53.61 percent.
The major groups that drove the prices up are basic chemicals by 83.70 percent, refined petroleum products by 52.71 percent, basic metals by 29.98 percent, rubber and plastics products by 10.16 percent, paper and paper products by 6.38 percent, grain mill and other products by 2.46 percent, juices by 2.19 percent and cement and other non-metallic products by 1.82 percent. However, prices fell in other chemical products and fibre by 7.53 percent, beverages by 1.82 percent and dairy products by 0.05 percent.
The PPI for electricity and water, which constitutes 0.5 percent of the index, showed a decline of 13.71 percent month-on-month due to price fall in water by 14.81 percent and electricity by 12.90 percent. Year-on-year, the index fell 2.12 percent, driven by price falls in electricity by 2.55 percent and water by 1.53 percent.