Severe earnings contraction — especially in crude and natural gas, refined petroleum products and basic chemicals — led Qatar witness a 46.2% year-on-year plunge in producers' price index (PPI) this May, according to the official statistics.
Qatar's PPI — a measure of the average selling prices received by the domestic producers for their output — saw a 4.7% month-on-month fall, the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA), suggested.
The PSA had released a new PPI series in late 2015. With a base of 2013, it draws on an updated sampling frame and new weights. The previous sampling frame dates from 2006, when the Qatari economy was much smaller than today and the range of products made domestically much narrower.
The mining PPI, which carries the maximum weight of 72.7%, plummeted 53.5% on a yearly basis as price of crude petroleum and natural gas plunged 53.6% and that of stone, sand and clay by 4.5% in the review period.
The PPI for mining registered a 7.1% shrinkage month-on-month in May this year on the back of a 6.8% slump in the price of crude petroleum and natural gas and 0.5% in stone, sand and clay.
The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of 26.8% in the PPI basket, witnessed a 32% yearly plunge in May 2020 on a 42.4% decline in the price of refined petroleum products, 22.3% in basic chemicals, 8.9% in rubber and plastics products, 3.8% in basic metals and 1.2% in beverages.
Nevertheless; there was a 3% increase in the price of paper and paper products, 2.6% in juices, 1.5% in dairy products, 0.3% in grain mill and other products and 0.1% in cement and other non-metallic mineral products.
The manufacturing sector PPI had seen a monthly 1.5% shrinkage in May 2020 as the price of refined petroleum products shrank 4.3%, rubber and plastics products (3%), grain mill and other products (0.8%) and other chemical products and fibers (0.4%).
However, the price of basic metals were seen increasing 3.5%, cement and other non-metallic mineral products (1.3%), basic chemicals and dairy products (1.1% each) and beverages (0.4%).
The utilities group, which has a mere 0.5% weightage in the PPI basket, saw its index shrink 8.6% on yearly basis in May this year as water and electricity prices had fallen 10% and 6.9% respectively.
The index had seen a 0.7% dip month-on-month this May with electricity index dropping 6.7%; even as that of water expanded 7.7%.