Tehran, Iran, Aug.17
Trend:
Iran's textile industry is facing rise of prices due to foreign currency rate rise and the smuggling of clothes, Board Member of Iran textile Exporters and Manufactures Association Majid Nami told Trend.
The prices for clothing have increased by 30 percent, he added. In his words, the increase has been caused by events in last Iranian year (started March 21, 2018) that included rise of foreign currency rate, problems with importing raw material and increased consumption of raw material.
"It was expected that drop of foreign currency rate and government's support in the imports of raw material imports will help to control the prices. However, the foreign currency rate has increased three times and there are difficulties in the imports of raw material; hence the increase in prices," he added.
"Due to foreign currency rate, the situation with exports is relatively stable, although the international sanctions reduced the possibility of money transactions. The other issue is the return of the exports revenues, which has caused limitations for exporters and created a problem in guarantee of their export goods," he said.
"Another problem in the domestic production is smuggling. The producer that officially works in Iran is paying heavy costs, while the smugglers are not interested to officially import cloths, even if the import ban is lifted or customs tariff is reduced," he added.
"Smuggling of cloths still exists and foreign brands enter the market despite the ban, although due to rise of foreign currency rate the volume of smuggling has declined," he noted.
In his view, no steps have been taken to address these issues. "The textile industry is being ignored and officials do not understand the problems," Nami said.
"There is a draft long-term strategy, which has been submitted to the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, but is has not been implemented yet. In addition to providing liquidity, combating smuggling, attracting investment in this sector, the imports of raw material at appropriate price shall be facilitated," he added.