The Monetary and Banking Research Institute (MBRI) says the output of listed manufacturing companies increased during the third month of the current fiscal year (May 22-June 21), though at a considerably lower pace.
In a recent report it reflected on the monthly performance of 280 companies in the Tehran Stock Exchange and Iran Fara Bourse, the junior equities exchange.
Overall industrial production index (IPI) in the seventh calendar month to June 22 was up 2.1% compared to the corresponding month last year, it noted. The growth was 6.3% in the second month of the year and 6.8% in the first month.
The companies account for almost half the industrial production in Iran and their performance is seen as a manufacturing benchmark, the MBRI said on its website.
A glance at sectoral indices shows that the IPI dropped in auto sector, which could be the main contributing factor behind the downward trend in the past three months.
The textile industry registered 127.2% growth during the month compared to the same period last year, topping the list of industries in annual growth. It was followed by metal products that improved the IPI by 24.1% y/y during the third month of the year.
Moreover, basic metals IPI index saw a 22.7% annual increase, followed by chemical products with 10.2%, machinery and equipment with 7.8% and non-metallic minerals 3.4%
Annual IPI for the auto and spare part industries decreased 17.9% Y/Y in the month to June 22 and down 23.3% on the previous month.
Likewise, petroleum products posted 23.1% decline during the month under review compared to the month before. The sector’s IPI increased by 3.6% year-on-year.
Electronic industry was down 12.5% on the corresponding period last year. The key sector had gained 9% in the month before. The pharma industry, tire and plastic, paper products and food industry registered declines.
Inventories Up 1.7%
The MBRI reported decline in the inventories of industries in the calendar month to June 22 suggesting less demand for goods.
Overall inventory index increased 1.7% to the month and was up 4.3% in the three months ending June 22. It was down 1.2% on an annualized basis.
The report also spoke of profitability of listed industries. Not all listed companies were homogenous. It reflected on profitmaking of listed companies in the last fiscal year (March 2022-23), which was up 8.2%. In sum, there were 31 loss-making companies last year.
The food industry topped the list in terms of profitability with a robust 87.9% increase in the last fiscal year, followed by oil products 76%, pharma 48.5% and chemical products 23.9%.
However, spare part companies topped the loss-making list ranking after with 143.8% increase in profit. Of the 22 companies in the sector, four reported loss in the first three quarters of the last fiscal year ending Dec 22.
Automakers reported 30% decline in profit in the previous fiscal year (March 2021-22) topping the industrial list. Basic metals were the other loss-making firms last year with their profitability down by 20%.
The highest number of loss-making companies were in the chemical industry as eight out of 46 were flat during the period.
Chemicals had the highest number of loss-making companies last year—seven, according to the MBRI report. Auto and parts sector and basic metals sector ranked after with three companies in red. There were two companies in the food industry that did not report profit.
