Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 26
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran's Deputy Minister of Industry says that the country's textile industry with 120 percent trading profit cannot appear competitive in the face of regulations which have given free rein to imports.
"The PTA (preferential trading agreement) which is a topic hotly discussed by Iranian textile producers is a dish that the previous administration has cooked for us," said Mojtaba Khosrowtaj, the country's Mehr news agency reported Jan. 26.
The PTA, which was prepared by the Ahmadinejad administration between Iran and Turkey, went into force on January 1, 2015.
Speaking to the Iranian Channel 1 TV, Khosrowtaj said "The textile Industry is one of the oldest ones in the country. Both in terms of technical knowhow and human resources it enjoys great opportunities for competitive production and having a share in the international market. But in the past decade, smuggling has threatened the industry as a major challenge as the cost of smuggled textiles has hit as low as 5 to 15 percent."
"For any kind of order that you may place in the Turkish market, they will deliver your shipment anywhere in Iran with a 5-to-15 percent cost per shipment. So, trafficking is one of the major problems addressing the textile industry, because here we are not able to cope with it. There are rather certain people that should be held responsible for this situation."
He added that another problem damaging Iran's textile industry is that it lacks 50 percent of its consumers. "The majority of the imported textile is women's wear," he explained, adding "Our producers cannot produce according to the tastes and demands of the consumers, and that is worrying."
A report on November 15, 2014 said that the Iranian Industry Ministry issued an order to boost black chador production by domestic manufacturers.
Alireza Haeri, Member of the Iranian Textile Industries Union, said some $150 million are spent annually to import 70 million meters of material to make black chadors.
Iran is the largest consumer of the black chador in the world. Women in Iran wear a chador in adherence to Islamic dressing codes.
Khosrowtaj also complained that while the trading profit for clothing merchandise is 100 percent, the tariff for production stands at 200 percent.
"Clothing goods are categorized under the 10th merchandise group. For importing a product belonging to this group, one has to pay two times the official price as duty."
Edited by CN