Qatar’s industrial production in Nov down 8.8 percent as mining output falls

Qatar’s industrial production in November, 2021, fell 8.8 percent from October, 2021, mostly due to a decline in the mining output, which includes oil and gas production.
According to the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), the key Industrial Production Index stood at 92.8 points in November, up 1.8 percent from a year ago.
The mining component of the index, which has a relative weightage of 83.6 percent, showed a decline of 10.2 percent month-on-month and an increase of 1.6 percent year-on-year.
The m-o-m fall in mining output was driven by decreased production of crude oil and natural gas, by 10.2 percent. However, production under the “other mining and quarrying” group showed a month-on-month increase of 3 percent.
Qatar’s manufacturing output — which has a relative weightage of 15.2 percent in the index — declined in November, showing a 1.4 percent fall from October. PSA attributed this to fall in the manufacture of beverages by 8.6 percent, refined petroleum products by 6 percent, printing and reproduction of recorded media by 3.8 percent, rubber and plastics products by 1.2 percent, chemicals and chemical products by 0.8 percent and basic metals by 0.6 percent.
However, manufacturing output in two groups went up — cement and other non-metallic mineral products by 4.3 percent and food products by 1.2 percent.
The manufacturing component of the IPI in November showed a 2.9-percent increase when compared with that in the same month in 2020.
The surge was driven mainly by increased productions of food products by 9 percent, cement and other non-metallic mineral products by 7.1 percent, chemicals and chemical products by 5.1 percent, rubber and plastics products by 0.4 percent and refined petroleum products by 0.3 percent. However, manufacturing output went down in three groups year-on-year — printing and reproduction of recorded media by 9.1 percent, basic metals by 5.6 percent and beverages by 2.2 percent.
Electricity output — which accounts for 0.7 percent of IPI — declined 24.4 percent in November month-on-month but climbed 9.3 percent year-on-year.
Similarly, water production (desalination), which carries a weightage of 0.5 percent, showed a decline of 7.8 percent month-on-month and a fall of 17.8 percent year-on-year.