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 booming or stagnating 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 58.2 in the month ending March 20, indicating a 10.31% decrease compared with 52.2 in the month ending Feb. 18.
The "supplier deliveries" sub-index, which measures how fast deliveries are made, increased from 58.24 in the month ending Feb. 18 to 59.02 in the month ending March 20, indicating a 1.34% growth.
The "raw materials (construction materials) inventory" sub-index jumped 6.12% from 53.3 in the month ending Feb. 18 to 56.56 in the month leading to March 20.
The "employment" sub-index declined by 9.07% from 57.69 in the 11th month to 52.46 in the 12th Iranian month.
To calculate housing PMI, seven secondary criteria were also surveyed by ICC, including "raw materials purchase prices", which stood at 65.93 in the month ending Feb. 18. The sub-index decreased by 6.75% to stand at 61.48 in the month ending March 20.
"Warehouse inventory" fell 11.69% to reach 36.88 in the 12th Iranian month from 41.76 in the 11th fiscal month.
The "exports" sub-index settled at 48.36 in the month ending March 20 from 48.35 in the month ending Feb. 18, registering a 0.02% decrease.
"Prices of products or services" grew by 19.33% to stand at 62.29 in the month ending March 20 from 52.2 in the month ending Feb. 18.
"Fuel consumption" increased by 5.87% from 51.1 in the 11th Iranian month to 54.1 in the 12th Iranian month.
"Sales" dropped by 4.42% from 56.6 in the 11th month to 54.1 in the 12th month.
And, the "performance expectations for the following month" sub-index settled at 41.8 in the month ending March 20 from 63.74 in the month ending Feb. 18, showing a 34.42% decline.
‘Housing & Utilities’ Inflation at 25.3%
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “housing and utilities (water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels)” in the 12-month period ending March 20, which marks the end of the 12th month of fiscal 2020-21, increased by 25.3% compared with last year’s corresponding period.
The CPI of the group among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households, which has the biggest impact on total inflation rate with a coefficient of 35.5%, registered a year-on-year increase of 28.4%.
The index stood at 214.1 for the month under review, indicating a 1.5% rise compared with the month before, the Statistical Center of Iran reported.
The overall average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending March 20, increased by 36.4% compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
The consumer inflation for the month under review (Feb. 19-March 20) registered an increase of 48.7% compared with the similar month of the previous Iranian year.
The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 298.1 for the month ending March 20, indicating a 1.8% rise compared with the month before.
SCI put the fiscal 2020-21 average annual inflation for urban and rural areas at 36.2% and 37.7%, respectively.
CPI registered a year-on-year increase of 47.8% for urban areas and 53.3% for rural areas in the month ending March 20.
The overall CPI stood at 294.9 for urban households and 316.1 for rural households, indicating a month-on-month increase of 1.8% and 1.6% for urban and rural areas, respectively.