TEHRAN,Iran, June 19
Trend:
Prices on home appliances in Iran have increased, Vice Chairman of Iran Homes Appliance Sellers Union Akbar Pazouki told Trend.
He said shortage of goods as well as item prices not being registered in the system of Iran's Consumers and Producers Protection Organization are the reasons for the increase in market prices.
"The union is following the issue, to have the official prices registered, since there have been fluctuations in the past two years," said Pazouki.
"The prices have increased due to fluctuation of prices on steel, as allocation of preferable foreign currency rate for importers has been halted," he explained.
"For example, the refrigerator engines are fully being imported, but due to issues with foreign currency, these imports have negatively affected the final products," said the official.
"The prices currently have no stability and home appliance sellers are not certain over what's going to happen," said Pazouki.
"The manufacturers can't produce home appliances with the same price as they used to, and importing goods of foreign brands isn't prioritized. The producers said they can supply parts for home appliances, yet despite the increase in production, they can't satisfy the local market due to increased prices," he explained.
Pazouki said the increase of prices happened because of smuggled home appliances and distribution of fake brands.
"The stores have orders not to sell smuggled goods, but there are no official distributors, they move towards smuggled items," he said.
Pazouki admitted that in Iran's $3.3 billion home appliances market $2.2 billion worth of items are smuggled goods.
"Domestic companies increased production but it has not reached the target since the price of basic material has increased," he said.
"The government should provide liquidity to producers to improve distribution of home appliances," he added.