Tehran, Iran, July 16
By A. Shirazi - Trend:
Pakistani businesspeople voiced readiness to buy Iranian tiles after visiting a tile manufacturing plant in the central province of Yazd.
A delegation made up of Pakistani merchants and businesspeople visited Yazd’s tile manufacturing company on Sunday and held talks with senior Iranian officials, IRNA news agency reported on July 16.
During the meeting, attended by members of the province’s chamber of commerce office, they expressed eagerness to import two new products of the company.
Iranian officials also referred to age-old ties between the two nations and called for enhanced ties between Tehran and Islamabad in all ties.
Recently, Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Reza Rahmani said 150 million square meters of ceramic tiles were exported in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 20),
“Iran is now the fourth biggest producer and exporter of tiles and ceramics in the world,” he added.
Iraq and Afghanistan are among the main markets for Iranian-made tile products.
Iran’s tile industry enjoys cheap and abundant energy and raw materials combined with indigenous expertise rooted in history. However, due to the market recession caused by an ongoing stagnation in the construction sector as well as the tile and ceramic industry’s overproduction due to the unrestrained issuance of factory licenses during the 1990s, production and exports have followed a downtrend over the past few years and growth in domestic demand has been weak.