Tehran, Iran, Sept.11
Trend:
Iran's gold production can create jobs and improve by providing exports to the neighboring countries, head of the Union of Manufacturers and Exporters of Gold, Jewelry, Silver and Precious Stones Abdollah Mohamad Vali told Trend.
"The markets in the region can help Iran's gold sector and the country's economy, but we have been ignoring Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan that can be big markets for Iran's gold exports," he said.
"For years the topic has remained aside, because the focus has been on oil and it affected the budget plans," he noted.
"We are a rich country and in addition to oil we have large resources and mines," he said.
Vali went on to add that Iran's gold imports have been banned, and in recent years the exports of gold from the country have also reduced to zero.
"Iran used to exports gold to European, American and Asian countries in past three decades, while its gold products were constantly being sold in Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia markets, but today the volume has dropped to zero," he said.
"Turkey, Thailand, India and Hong Kong earn billions from gold production and exports. India holds the majority of regional markets and China has considerable gold production. China's gold reserve is so big that it would have no rivals in the next 10 years," Vali indicated.
"Meanwhile, Iran has not only lost the regional gold markets, the job creation in this field has become very limited as well and the gold guild is hardly standing," he added.
"During these years one of the issues that could have been assessed by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) was gold imports, but due to financial difficulties, the plan hasn't triggered any movement in this area," he said.
"Meanwhile Turkey's gold guild can obtain gold from its central bank. For example, if it takes 100 kilos from the bank, it can return 101,8 kilo by the end of the year. In Iran even financial institutes can not provide gold to the guild," he indicated.