Azerbaijan, Baku, August 14 / Trend N. Umid, S. Isayev
Iran's auto production has decreased by up to 46.3 percent during first four months of current solar year compared to the same period last year, ISNA news agency reported.
Iran has produced some 182,353 autos during the period, while the figure in the first four months of the last year was 339,835, the report said.
According to the report, Iran has produced some 61,534 autos during forth month (June 22-July 22) of the current solar year, meanwhile the figure in the same month of last year stood on 88,638 which indicates a fall by 30.6 percent.
It should be recalled that on July 1 U.S imposed a new round of sanctions against anyone involved in Iran's auto industry and anyone caught using Iran's currency, the rial, for "significant transactions."
Some leader auto production companies including Renault have restricted their activities in Iran.
South Korean companies also officially announced that they will not accept orders from Iran for selling car parts to them.
According to projections, the sanctions will lead to a 40 percent rise in production costs in Iranian car-making companies as Korean suppliers used to provide Iranian companies with 60 percent of their needs.
In February 2012, Europe's second largest automaker, PSA Peugeot Citroen, also stopped its business with Iran after the enforcement of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
According to the statistics, about 69 automobile manufacturer units have been closed and 115,000 people lost their jobs in automobile sector of Iran, during the past two years.
Iran's auto sector hopes to neutralize U.S. sanctions effects with Chinese companies' help, while experts argued that, cooperation with Chinese auto production companies is a short term solution and will not be effective in the long term.
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