The overall monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of Qatar’s industrial sector for April 2021 was estimated at 61.1 points, showing an increase of 0.5 percent compared to the previous month’s PPI (March 2021). 

When compared on year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis, the PPI of April 2021 showed an increase of 70.2 percent against PPI of the corresponding month last year (April 2020), official data released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA) showed. 

The Mining sector PPI registered a decrease of 1.8 percent in April 2021 compared with the PPI of March 2021, primarily due to the price decrease of “Crude petroleum and natural gas” by 1.8 percent, and “Stone, Sand and Clay” by 1.4 percent. 

PPI of April 2021, when compared with its counterpart in previous year (April 2020), there was an increase of 85.4 percent. 

In the Manufacturing sector index, an increase of 5.4 percent was recorded in April 2021, when compared with the previous month’s Manufacturing index (March 2021). 

The prices increase were seen in: “Basic Chemicals” by 13.0 percent, followed by “Basic Metals” by 4.1 percent, “Refined Petroleum products” by 3.5 percent, “Paper and Paper products” by 2.3 percent, “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 1.8 percent, “Rubber and Plastics products” by 1.1 percent, and “Beverages” by 0.4 percent. 

However, the decreasing prices were noticed in “Juices” by 1.2 percent, “Grain mill and Other products” by 0.2 percent, and “Dairy products” by 0.1 percent. While no change was noticed in “Other chemical products and fibers”.

When compared with the previous year’s (April 2020) index, the Manufacturing PPI of April 2021 showed an increase of 48.8 percent. 

The major groups which explain this price increase were: “Refined Petroleum products” by 59.8 percent, followed by “Basic chemicals” by 55.3 percent, “Basic Metals” by 26.7 percent, “Paper and Paper Products” by 10.3 percent, “Juices” by 2.5 percent, and “Dairy products” by 0.9 percent. 

However, prices decreased in “Cement and Other non-metallic products” by 5.9 percent, followed by “Grain mill and Other products” by 1.3 percent, “Other chemical products and fibers” by 0.8 percent, and “Rubber and Plastics products” by 0.1 percent. While no change was recorded in “Beverages”. 

The PPI of Electricity and Water group showed a decrease of 3.9 percent compared to March 2021, resulting from fall prices in “Electricity” by 11.9 percent, while “Water” prices increased by 6.7 percent.  When compared the PPI of April 2021, to the PPI of April 2020 (Y-o-Y), showed an increase of 12.0 percent, affected by prices rise in “Water” by 29.1 percent, while no change was noticed in “Electricity”.

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