Iran Chamber of Cooperatives’ latest report on Purchasing Managers’ Index for the construction sector indicates that it is experiencing contraction.
The construction PMI in the current fiscal year’s 10th month (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) settled at 42.38 from 43.98 in the preceding month (Nov. 22-Dec. 21), indicating a 3.64% decline.
PMI is an indicator of the health of economic sectors and provides information about current business conditions to decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
Raw material inventory, employment conditions, new orders, supplier deliveries and export/production conditions were among the criteria quizzed, yielding a final score of between 1 and 100.
If a business scores 50, it means that no change has been perceived compared to the previous month, while scores higher or lower than 50 indicate that the business is expanding or contracting respectively.
The survey includes 12 questions about business conditions and any changes, whether it be improving, no changes or deteriorating. It is measured through a monthly survey sent to senior executives of 100 companies active in the real-estate sector. It is based on five major survey areas: "new orders" with a coefficient of 30%, "raw material inventory" (10%), "production" (25%), "supplier deliveries" (15%) and "employment" (20%).
The "new orders" sub-index stood at 38.09 in the month ending Jan. 20, indicating a 4.16% increase compared with 36.57 of the month ending Dec. 22.
The "supplier deliveries" sub-index, which measures how fast deliveries are made, increased by 7.67% from 49.53 in the month ending Dec. 22 to 53.33 in the month ending Jan. 20.
The "raw materials (construction materials) inventory" sub-index declined by 5.11% from 41.67 in the month ending Dec. 22 to 43.8 in the month leading to Jan. 20.
The "employment" sub-index decreased by 4.01% from 48.61 in the month ending Dec. 22 to 46.66 in the month ending Jan. 20.
To calculate housing PMI, seven secondary criteria were also surveyed by ICC, including "raw material purchase prices", which stood at 75.46 in the month ending Dec. 22. The sub-index declined by 7.87% to stand at 69.52 in the month ending Jan. 20.
"Warehouse Inventory" increased by 3.97% to reach 44.76 in the 10th Iranian month from 43.05 in the ninth month.
The "exports" sub-index settled at 50.47 in the month ending Jan. 20 from 48.61 in the month ending Dec. 22, registering a 3.83% increase.
"Prices of products and services" decreased by 6.57% to stand at 61.42 in the month ending Jan. 20 from 65.74 in the previous month.
"Fuel consumption" decreased by 2.94% from 57.4 in the ninth Iranian month to 55.71 in the 10th month.
"Sales" declined by 4.73% from 43.98 in the ninth month to 41.9 in the 10th month.
And, "performance expectations for the following month" sub-index settled at 52.85 in the month ending Jan. 20 from 51.85 in the month before, showing a 1.93% increase.
Tehran’s Q3 Construction Material Inflation at 69.9%
The general price index of construction materials for residential properties in Tehran, with 2011 as the base year, grew by 69.9% during the four-quarter period ending Dec. 21, which marks the end of the third quarter of the current Iranian year, compared with the previous year's corresponding period.
The annual inflation of construction material was 88% in Q2.
The index stood at 1,186.3 in Q3 (Sept. 23-Dec. 21), according to the Statistical Center of Iran's latest report published on its website. Compared with the previous quarter, which ended on Sept. 22, the index saw a 2.8% rise.
In the second quarter of the current fiscal (June 22-Sept. 22), the construction material price index stood at 1,076.5 and registered a 7.2% quarter-on-quarter growth.
The index rose by 39.6% in Q3 compared with last year's corresponding quarter (year-on-year). In Q2 of the last year, the year-on-year index growth was 65.2%.
When compared with the previous quarter, the category of “glass” registered the highest growth among all categories of construction materials with a growth of 16.7%.
“Cement, concrete and sand” recorded a decline of 6.6% compared with the preceding quarter and the “electrical facilities” category registered the lowest year-on-year price growth with 24.2%.
The highest annual price hike was registered for “cement, concrete and sand” group with 108.9% and the lowest annual growth was posted by the “services” group with 38.2%.
