The Producer Price Index (PPI) of the industrial sector of the State of Qatar for March 2023 recorded 121.95 points, showing a decrease of 2.56 percent when compared to February 2023. On Y-o-Y basis, PPI of March 2023 showed a decrease of 16.88 percent when compared to the PPI of March 2022.

The PPI include four main industry sectors: Mining (weight: 82.46 percent), Manufacturing (weight: 15.85 percent), Electricity (weight: 1.15 percent), and Water (weight: 0.52 percent).

According to data issued Monday by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), the PPI of March 2023 for the Mining and Quarrying showed a decrease by 2.94 percent when compared with PPI of February 2023, primarily due to the price decrease on “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 2.94 percent, while no change noticed in “Other mining and quarrying”. PPI of Mining of March 2023, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (March 2022), there was a decrease of 16.30 percent.

In Manufacturing, a decrease of 0.76 percent has been recorded in March 2023, when compared with the previous months Manufacturing index (February 2023). The prices decrease is seen in: “Refined petroleum products” by 2.39 percent, followed “Chemicals and chemical products” by 0.95 percent, “Food products” by 0.34 percent, “Cement and other non-metallic mineral products” by 0.29 percent, and “Beverages” by 0.05 percent. The increasing prices are noticed in “Rubber and plastics products” by 2.76 percent, “Basic metals” by 1.62 percent, and no change noticed in “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” in March 2023.

Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (March 2022), Manufacturing PPI of March 2023 showed a decrease of 22.03 percent. The major groups which explain this price decrease are: “chemicals and chemical products” by 28.58 percent, followed by “Refined Petroleum products” by 18.58 percent, and “Basic metals” by 12.93 percent.

However, the increasing prices are noticed in: “Food products” by 5.52 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 4.70 percent, “Printing and reproduction of recorded media” by 2.88 percent, followed by “Beverages” by 1.20 percent, and “Cement and other non-metallic mineral products” by 0.49 percent.

Meanwhile, the PPI the Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply group showed an increase of 1.02 percent compared to February 2023. When compared the PPI of March 2023, to the PPI of March 2022, the group showed an increase of 11.76 percent.

With regard to Water supply, the PPI of this group showed a decrease of 1.78 percent compared to February 2023. When compared the PPI of March 2023, to the PPI of March 2022 (Y-o-Y), the group showed an increase of 8.64 percent.