A report by the Monetary and Banking Research Institute (MBRI) shows an increase in the output of manufacturing companies listed in the stock market.
The institute reflected on the monthly performance of 280 companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse, the junior equities exchange.
The companies accounted for almost half of industrial production in Iran and their performance is seen as a benchmark for domestics production patterns, the MBRI said on its website.
Accordingly, the overall industrial production index (IPI) in the fifth calendar month to August 22 was up 6.7% compared to the corresponding month last year.
Also known as the industrial output index or industrial volume index, IPI is a business cycle indicator that measures monthly changes in price-adjusted output of industry at regular intervals, usually monthly.
A glance at sectoral indices show that the IPI jumped in the auto and machinery sectors while paper production and food industries declined.
Annual IPI for auto and spare part industries grew 22.1% in the month to August 22. The sector reported 6% rise a month earlier.
Likewise, the machinery and equipment index improved over the previous month by 19.6% in the fifth calendar month, up on 16.5% in the month before.
Textile industries index registered 17.7% growth during the month under review, up from 12.1 a month earlier.
Basic metals, non-metallic minerals, oil derivatives, tire and plastic, metal products, chemical industries, and pharmaceuticals were also of the ascending order.
However, paper output declined by 12.2% in the month after registering 11.5% annual growth in the preceding month.
Annual output in the food industry fell by 6.8% in the reviewed month but improved on the annual 8.2% decline a month before.
Electronic output was down 2.2% improving from the 6.4% decline in the previous month.
Inventories Up 1.4%
The MBRI report showed overall decline in the inventories of industries in the fifth calendar month to August 22 suggesting that demand was improving.
Warehouse inventory is the collection of all materials and goods stored, whether for use to complete the production process or for sale to the customer. Inventories rise if production is higher than sales in a particular period of time and vice versa.
Overall inventory index dropped 1.4% to the month and was down 4.4% in the three months ending August 22. It was also down 1% y/y.
The report provided a sense on profitmaking of the listed industries but not all the companies were homogenous.
As expected, auto and spare part companies were disappointing and topped the worst-performing industries. Out of the 35 companies in the key sector, seven were loss-making in the first three quarters of the last fiscal year ending Dec. 21.
In sum, there were a total of 56 loss-making companies in the first nine months of last year – up 17% on the corresponding period a year before.
