Saudi Industrial production index decreases by 2.9 % in May 2024

In May 2024, the Industrial Production Index (IPI) decreased by 2.9% compared to the same month in the previous year (May 2023).

The decrease directly influenced this decline in mining and quarrying activity. Given the relative weights of the mining and quarrying activity which reached 61.4%, the trend of the industrial production in the mining and quarrying sector dominates the trend in the general IPI. This was followed by the manufacturing activity, electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply activities with a relative importance of 35% and 2.8% respectively, water supply, sewerage, and waste management and remediation activities by 0.69%.

However, IPI increased by 0.9% compared to April 2024.

The sub-index of mining and quarrying activity decreased by 9.7% in May 2024 compared to the same month of the previous year. Saudi Arabia reduced its oil production to 8.9 million barrels per day in May 2024.

Compared to April 2024, the sub-index of mining and quarrying activity increased by 0.1% Sub index for manufacturing Compared to May of the previous year, the sub-index of manufacturing activity increased by 8.2%, affected by the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, and manufacture of food products which increased by 10.0% and 15.6% respectively. Meanwhile, the manufacturing activities of coke and refined petroleum products decreased by 2.1%.

On a monthly basis, the sub-index of manufacturing activity showed an increase of 0.8%, supported by the rise in the manufacture of chemicals and chemical products, which increased by 0.1%. Followed by the activities of the manufacture of food products and the manufacture of nonmetallic products increased by 1.9% and 0.9%, respectively. While the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products decreased by 0.4

The sub-index of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply activity recorded an annual increase of 6.6%. while the sub-index of water supply, sewerage and waste management and remediation activities decreased by 0.2%.

Based on the month-on-month trend, the sub-index of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply activity, and the sub-index of water supply, sewerage and waste management and remediation activities increased by 20.8% and 2.2% respectively

The index for oil activities in May 2024 decreased by 8.4% compared to the same month of the previous year, due to the decline in oil production.

While the index for non-oil activities increased by 12.8%, supported by an increase in all non-oil economic activities except for water activities. On the other hand, there is stability in the index for oil activities compared to the previous month (April 2024). While the index for non-oil activities increased by 3.0%.

IPI is an economic indicator that reflects the relative changes in the volume of industrial output. It is calculated based on the industrial production survey. IPI data is based on the International Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities (ISIC 4). This index is published monthly.