Tehran, Iran, Oct.26
Trend:
At the beginning of the year, due to rising costs, the household appliances manufacturers were forced to increase prices by an average of 7 percent, but later then due to the fluctuation of the market and restrictions on import, the conditions have worsened, and we had to raise prices again, Alireza Ghaznavi, the spokesman of Association of Household Appliances Manufacturers told Trend.
The price is no longer the main concern, but the lack of inventory and hoarding have led the market out of control, as shoppers now say they only have the products in showcase, while the previous year those have been sold in half-price for corrosion or scratch, Ghaznavi said.
"Today about 25 percent of the appliance spare parts are imported from China and South Korea. The import gap is caused by government currency policies and the prolongation of the customs clearance, said Ghaznavi.
He went on to add that the Association of Household Appliances Manufacturers, in coordination with the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and the Saderat Bank, decided to pre-sell some 160 products, to eliminate the price bubble.
" As soon as the project kicked off, every single item since then have been pre-sold. The success of pre-sale showed that people are expecting price increases in the coming months,” he said.
"Meanwhile, the representatives of foreign companies in Iran have stopped their activity after the Ministry of Industry's order came out on prohibiting imports, including appliances," said Ghaznavi.
The order suggests the U.S. sanctions threat is pushing Iran back towards running "resistance economy", designed to conserve foreign exchange reserves and become as self-sufficient as possible in many products.
On June 25 Iran has banned imports of over 1,300 products, prepared its economy to resist threatened U.S. sanctions.