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Iran’s annual producer inflation surged to 92.3% in the first half of the current Persian year, ending on September 22, while industrial prices jumped 149.3% from a year earlier.
The overall producer price index rose to 758.5 from 723.1 in the previous month, a 4.9% monthly increase, the CBI said in its latest report, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) data showed.
Monthly producer inflation accelerated from 1.8% in the fourth month of the Iranian calendar year to 4.2% in the fifth month and 4.9% in the sixth, pointing to a sharp pick-up in price growth towards the end of the summer.
Annual producer inflation, which measures the change in the average price index over 12 months against the preceding 12-month period, climbed from 80.4% in the fourth month to 86.6% in the fifth and 92.3% in the sixth.
Year-on-year producer inflation also edged higher, reaching 117.3% in the sixth month, up from 116.8% the previous month and 115.1% two months earlier.
The y/y rate means the producer price index was about 2.17 times its level in the same month a year earlier.
Industrial prices soared 149.3% y/y in the sixth month, up from 142.2% in the previous month and 137% two months earlier, extending a steep upward trend.
Annual inflation in the sector rose to 102.9% from 94.2% the previous month, an increase of 8.7 percentage points.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing followed a different trajectory. Year-on-year producer inflation in the sector fell to 102.8% from 125.4% in the previous month. However, its annual inflation rate rose to 109.2% from 106.5%.
The figures show industrial prices rising faster than agricultural prices on a y/y basis, although agriculture still recorded the higher annual inflation rate.
Mining and quarrying recorded the steepest monthly price increase among the main economic groups, at 12.9%, followed by administrative and support service activities, at 11%.
Industrial prices rose 5.2% m/m, while hotel and restaurant prices rose 4.9%. Agriculture, forestry and fishing posted a 4.8% surge.
Transport and storage prices rose 3.3%, education prices rose 2.1%, and health and social work prices rose 1.6%. Information and communication recorded the smallest monthly increase, at 1.1%.
Producer prices for goods soared 5.4% during the month, compared with a 3% increase for services.
Higher producer prices can feed into consumer inflation through rising costs for raw materials, intermediate goods and other inputs. The extent and timing of any pass-through depend on demand, production costs and businesses’ ability to absorb higher expenses.