Tehran, Iran, December 8
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Tehran Chamber of Trade chief Masoud Khansari has said that peaking production costs are the main reason behind the low export of Iranian-made products.
The export of Iranian-made products has fallen by 15 percent for the first seven months of the current Iranian year (which started March 21), he said, ISNA news agency reported December 8.
It started two-three years ago when the Iranian rial depreciated against US dollar, so much so that the dollar reached 35,000, he said.
Khansari further noted that in the meantime, Iran experienced an inflation rate of 40 percent, whereas the dollar stayed at the same level as time passed.
"This meant that the production costs in the country were rising and export was becoming less and less profitable as costs were going higher and higher," Khansari further stated.
A second reason for lowering exports was the shrinking liquidity and working capital which led to reduction in production, he said.
A third reason, he noted, was the general decline in global economic growth rate, which has lowered global demand. Iran's foreign trade during the seven months since the start of the current Iranian fiscal year hit $48.208 billion.
The country imported worth $24.77 billion of goods in the said period, with a decline of 21.9 percent compared to the same period the preceding year.
Also, the country's non-oil export hit $24.131 billion which showed 15.9 percent decline in comparison to the same period of the preceding year.