Producer Price Index of Industrial Sector Surges in January 2017

Doha, March 12 (QNA) - Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics (MDPS) has released the Monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) of the Industrial sector for January 2017, which is estimated at 55.7 points showing an increase of 4.5 percent compared to the previous months December 2016. Producer price index covers goods relating to "Mining" (weight: 72.7 percent), "Manufacturing" (weight: 26.8 percent), and "Electricity & Water" (weight: 0.5 percent). According to a Ministry's press release, the Mining Sector's PPI of January, 2017 shows an increase of 3.5 percent when compared with PPI of December 2016, primarily due to the increase of prices of "Crude petroleum and natural gas". PPI of January 2017, when compared with its counterpart in the previous year, there has been a considerable increase of 30.0 percent. In the Manufacturing Sector, an increase of 6.9 percent has been recorded in January, 2017, when compared with the previous months Manufacturing index during this year. The prices increase are seen in: "Refined Petroleum" by 8.1 percent, "Basic Metals" by 7.5 percent, "Basic Chemicals" by 5.4 percent, "Rubber and Plastic" by 0.6 percent, "Other Chemicals Products" by 0.3 percent, and "Dairy Products" by 0.2 percent. Meanwhile, the decreasing prices are noticed in "Paper and Paper Products" by 5.5 percent, and "Beverages" by 1.3 percent, "Cement and Other non-metallic products" by 0.7 percent, and "Grain mill and Other products" by 0.1 percent. No change noticed in "Juices". Comparing with the index of counterpart in the previous year (January 2016), "Manufacturing" PPI of January, 2017 showed a rise of 14.4 percent. The major groups which explain this price increase are "Refined Petroleum products" by 24.2 percent, "Other Chemical Products" by 13.3 percent, "Basic Metal" by 9.1 percent, "Rubber and Plastic product" by 7.1 percent, "Juices" by 6.7 percent, "Dairy Products" by 4.8 percent, and "Beverages" by 0.9 percent. Moreover, prices fall are also noticed in "Paper and Paper Products" by 5.5 percent, "Cement and Other non-metallic products" by 2.3 percent, "Basic chemicals" by 2.2 percent, and "Grain Product" by 0.9 percent. Regarding the Electricity and Water, PPI of this group showed an increase of 4.8 percent compared to December 2016, resulting from the increasing price seen in "Electricity" by 5.9 percent, and in "Water" by 3.4 percent. When compared the PPI of January, 2017, to the PPI of January, 2016, showed a year-to-year decrease of 4.6 percent, resulting from the fall in both "Electricity" by 5.6 percent, and "Water" by 3.1 percent. (QNA)