A report by the Monetary and Banking Research Institute (MBRI) shows an increase in manufacturing output of companies listed in the stock market.
It covered 280 companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse, the junior equities exchange.
The companies accounted for almost half the industrial production in the country and their performance is seen as a benchmark for domestic production, the MBRI said on its website.
Accordingly, the overall industrial production index (IPI) in the fifth calendar month to Sep 22 was up 6.5% on 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 showed that the IPI jumped in the auto and machinery sectors while paper production and food industries declined.
Annual IPI for the auto and spare part industries grew 22.1% in the month, which was up 11.5% from the month before.
Likewise, the machinery and equipment index improved over the previous month by 16.2%, but was down 2.8% compared to the month before.
Textile industries registered 14.8% growth, up 10.4% from the previous month. 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 9.7% in the month – down 41.4% compared to the preceding month.
Annual food industry output fell 5.6% posting 1.3% decline on the month before. Electronic output was also down 1.6% compared to the same period last year.
Inventories Decline 1.4%
The MBRI report showed overall decline in the inventories of industries in the month to Sep 22 suggesting that demand for goods was high.
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 4.1% to the month and was down 2.8% in the three months ending Sep 22. It was also down 1.3% on an annualized basis.
The report also gave a glimpse of the profitability of listed industries. Not all listed companies were homogenous.
As expected, auto and spare part companies were disappointing and atop the worst-performing industries.
Of the 35 companies in the key sector, seven reported loss 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 ago.
Higher Sales
The Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran said last week that the collective sale of goods and services of listed companies grew 20% in the month to Sep 22 compared to the month before.
Total sales reached 2,321 trillion rials ($7.07 billion) during the month while in the previous month it was 1,941 trillion rials ($5.91b).
Chemical firms led in terms of the total monthly sales with 469 trillion rials ($1.42 billion), up 5% compared to 448 trillion rials ($1.36b) the month before.
Basic metals was second with total monthly sales of 417 trillion rials ($1.27b), indicating a month-on-month growth of 25%. Banks and credit institutions came after with 400 trillion rials ($1.21b), up 26% on the month before.
Of the 39 listed industries, 29 reported higher sales. Industrial contractors topped the list in terms of monthly growth with 417% from 80 billion rials ($243,902) to 420 billion rials ($1.28 million).
