Saudi Industrial Production Index down 12.3% in October

Production line in a factory

Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) fell by 12.3% year-on-year (YoY) in October 2023, extending its downtrend for the sixth successive month.

Data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed that Saudi IPI fell to 121.9 points in October, according to the base year 2010, compared to 139 points in the year-ago period.

Despite the continued increase in the manufacturing activity, and the electricity and gas supply activity, October’s decline in the mining and quarrying activity directly affected the general index due to its heavy weight in the index.

The IPI measures the relative change and reflects the production quantities of materials and goods, which have been converted from raw materials to consumables in their final form as goods, for the purpose of achieving a monetary return.

The following table shows the development of the index:

The mining and quarrying activity dropped by 18.4% YoY as the Kingdom’s oil production was cut to 8.9 million barrels per day in October.

The manufacturing activity maintained its growth, jumping 0.6% YoY. The electricity and gas supply activity also increased by 32.2% YoY.