Qatar’s Producer Price Index declines 1.3% m-o-m but soars 82.8% y-o-y in December: PSA

Producer-price index (PPI) in Qatar declined 1.3 percent in December from November, but rose sharply by 82.8 percent from a year ago, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority, which estimated the PPI for December 2021 at 92.7 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 a decrease of 2.3 percent in December month-on-month and jump of 90.8 percent year-on-year. The PSA report attributed the m-o-m fall to decrease in producer prices of crude petroleum and natural gas by 2.3 percent and stone, sand and clay by 1.1 percent.
The manufacturing index, which has a weightage of 26.8 percent in the index, rose 0.6 percent in December month-on-month, mostly on the back of rise in prices in five groups — basic chemicals by 8.4 percent, basic metals by 2 percent, dairy products by 1 percent, juices by 0.2 percent and grain mill and other products by 0.1 percent. However, the sector saw prices falls in three groups — refined petroleum products by 2.7 percent, rubber and plastics products by 1.2 percent and cement and other non-metallic products by 0.4 percent. No change is noticed in the groups of beverages, paper and paper products and other chemical products and fibre.
On a year-on-year comparison, the manufacturing PPI of December surged 69.8 percent. The major groups that drove the prices up are basic chemicals by 131.8 percent, refined petroleum products by 62.3 percent, basic metals by 45.1 percent, rubber and plastics products by 11.3 percent, paper and paper products by 8.9 percent, cement and other non-metallic products by 2.9 percent, grain mill and other products by 1.1 percent and dairy products by 0.6 percent. However, prices fell in other chemical products and fibre by 2.9 percent, juices by 1 percent and beverages by 1.3 percent.
The PPI for electricity and water, which constitutes 0.5 percent of the index, showed a rise of 7.9 percent month-on-month due to price rise in electricity by 14.8 percent and water by 1 percent. Year-on-year, the index rose 5.6 percent, driven by price rises in water by 17.7 percent and electricity by 3 percent.