The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the construction sector settled at 33.95 in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 21-April 20), down from 55.43 in the 12th month of the last fiscal year (Feb. 20-March 20), registering a 38.75% decrease, the latest data released by the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives show.
The first month of every Iranian year is marked with a slowdown in activities across all economic sectors, including construction, due to the long Iranian New Year holidays (starting March 21) that last for more than two weeks. PMI is an indicator of the health of economic sectors and provides information about business conditions to decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.
Raw material inventory, employment conditions, new orders, supplier deliveries and export/production conditions are among the criteria surveyed, 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 business criteria 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 32.71 in the month ending April 20, indicating a 40.4% decrease compared with 54.89 in the month ending March 20.
"Supplier Deliveries", which measures how fast deliveries are made, decreased by 37.75% from 56.52 to 35.18.
"Raw Materials (construction materials) Inventory" declined by 4.44% from 44.57 to 42.59 in the month ending April 20.
"Employment" declined by 3.21% from 47.83 to 46.29 in the month ending April 20.
To calculate housing PMI, seven secondary criteria were also surveyed by ICC, including "Raw Material Purchase Prices", which stood at 82.07 in the month ending March 20. The sub-index decreased by 3.72% to stand at 79.01 in the month ending April 20.
"Warehouse Inventory" increased by 13.56% to reach 48.14 in the first month of the current Iranian month from 42.39 in the 12th month of the previous fiscal.
The "Exports" sub-index settled at 48.14 from 50.54, registering a 4.74% decrease.
"Prices of Products and Services" grew by 6.24% to stand at 71.6 from 67.39.
"Fuel Consumption" declined by 32.53% to stand at 37.03 from 54.89 and
"Sales" decreased from 58.15 to 24.07 in the month ending April 20 to register a 58.15% fall.
The sub-index of "Performance Expectations for the Following Month" settled at 67.28 from 32.61, showing a 106.31% increase.
