QSA Releases Producer Price Index of Industrial sector

Doha, April 01 (QNA) - Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) has released the Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Industrial sector for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011. The Industrial sector covers Mining, Electricity and Water and Manufacturing. Comparison with previous quarter Q3-2011: The PPI for Q4, 2011 stood at 163.4 showing a marginal decline of 1.0% when compared to the PPI of third quarter Q3, 2011. This minor slide in PPI is primarily the combined result of lower prices recorded in "Manufacturing" by 5.4% and in the "Electricity & water" by 2.0%; and rising prices in "Mining" sector by 0.1% . The changes at industry group/product group level were: In the "Mining" group, the 0.1% rise in PPI is mainly explained by higher prices seen in Natural gas 1.0% and Crude oil 0.3%; and the price fall recorded in the Condensate produced by the oil extraction 3.7% and Condensate produced by the gas extraction 2.1%. The decrease of 5.4% in "Manufacturing" group PPI is contributed by the price fall in: refined petroleum products 6.0%, basic chemicals products 7.4%; and metal products group 0.5%. However, price rise was noticed in dairy products group:1.9%; and in cements and glass products group: 0.9%. "Electricity and Water group" PPI showed a decrease of 2.0% due to price fall reported in the electrical energy. Comparison with the corresponding quarter (Q4) of 2010: The sharp rise of 29.0% in PPI of Q4, 2011 over Q4, 2010 (year-on-year comparison) is attributable to increases in indices of: "Mining": 35.3% and "Manufacturing": 8.5%. The steep increase in "Mining" Group PPI is mainly due to the price hikes noticed in: Natural gas: 54.4%, Crude oil: 29.8%, Condensate produced by the gas extraction: 22.8% and Condensate produced by the oil extraction: 15.9%. "Manufacturing" group PPI increased by 8.5%. While the prices of Refined petroleum products and Beverages in this period, went up by 13.0% and 8.0% respectively, the price of Grain products and cement and glass products showed declining trend of 0.5% and 0.6% respectively. "Electricity and Water" group in PPI showed a decline of 1.7%. (QNA)