(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar's manufacturing sector witnessed robust expansion both on monthly and yearly basis this October mainly on the back of increased production of cement, beverages and chemicals, according to official estimates.
Nevertheless, the country's Industrial Production Index (IPI) declined 5.6% month-on-month and 0.1% year-on-year in the review month, said the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS).
The ministry introduced IPI, a short-term quantitative index, to measure the changes in the volume of production of a selected basket of industrial products over a given period with respect to a base period 2013.
The manufacturing index, with a relative weight of 15.2%, showed a 6.1% surge month-on-month in October owing to a 16.8% surge in printing and reproduction of recorded media, 15.3% in manufacture of basic metals, 10.7% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products, 8% in beverages, 6.4% in chemicals and chemical products, 4.3% in rubber and plastics products and 2.3% in food products; while there was a 1.7% fall in the manufacture of refined petroleum products.
On a yearly basis, the manufacturing index shot up 7.2% with refined petroleum products' output soaring 36.1%, food products (19.1%), basic metals (9.9%), chemicals and chemical products (3.6%), beverages (2.7%) and printing and reproduction of recorded media (2.3%); whereas the manufacturing of cement and other non-metallic mineral products declined 19.7% and rubber and plastics products (9.2%).
The mining and quarrying index, which has a relative weight of 83.6%, shrank 7.7% on a monthly basis in October 2017 on the back of a 7.7% fall in extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas; even as there was 16.5% jump in other mining and quarrying activities.
On a yearly basis, the index showed 1.6% fall as the extraction of crude and natural gas slumped 1.6% and other mining and quarrying index 11.3%.
Electricity, which has a 0.7% weight in the IPI basket, saw a 7.9% decline on a monthly basis but reported a 17.9% expansion on a yearly basis; while in the case of water, which has a 0.5% weight, there was a 5.5% increase month-on-month while it fell 2.4% year-on-year.
MENAFN1712201700670000ID1096243373
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.