The Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) issued, on 5 March, a report about the metadata of the production index of manufacturing and extractive industries for December 2017. The manufacturing and extractive industries index (excluding crude oil and petroleum products) stood at 128.81 during December 2017 (primary) compared to 140.15 during November 2017 (final), a decrease of 8.1%. This is due to the decrease in food production and the interrupted production of some maintenance companies.
“The textile manufacturing index reached 95.68 in December 2017 compared to November 2017, reaching 80.16, an increase of 19.4% due to increased supply contracts and the availability of new production lines,” according to the CAPMAS.
The report stated that the manufactured metal products index—excluding machinery and equipment—reached 164.21 during December 2017 compared to 71.14 in November 2017, an increase of 130.8% due to the completion of maintenance in some sources, the availability of raw materials, and the sufficient demand for products.
“The food product manufacturing index reached 134.76 in December 2017 compared to November 2017, reaching 188.85, a decrease of 28.6%, due to suspension for maintenance, the seasonal production of sugar cane companies, the lack of crude oil, and the fact that mills function based on provision rations,” the CAPMAS stated.
Moreover, the CAPMAS said that the chemicals and chemical products index reached 134.37 during December 2017 compared to 175.64 in November 2017, a decrease of 23.5%, due to the decrease in production as a result of the suspension of some units within companies for maintenance and the seasonal production of fertiliser companies.
