TEHRAN (Iran News) – Head of Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers of Iran (AHAMI) says 40 percent of the home appliance market in the country is in control of the smuggled commodities which is valued at around $2.5b on average.
Alireza Mohammadi Daniali said that the volume of Iran’s home appliance market is estimated at around $6b annually as the smuggled commodities account for 40 percent of this market. He went on to say that the share of small home appliance items like spoon, forks and crystals is more than the big items like TV and this volume of illegal imports have put some producers in this field in critical condition.
He then said that major imports of the home appliance is almost banned due to protecting the domestic production but some items can be imported because its name is in the list of 26 prioritized groups.
Mohammadi Daniali went on to say that free zones are one of the major illegal imports of the home appliances, adding that some may blame the “koolbars,” (porters who carry huge packs of goods on their backs and cross the border on foot to supply them with goods not widely available in Iran) for smuggling the goods via borders but the truth is otherwise, adding that of course it is also one way of smuggling but it is not serious and if the employment problem in the border towns is resolved, the case of koolbars will be closed.
He noted that all countries support their domestic productions and officials in Iran should find some solution to counter the smuggling saga while they announce the volume of the smuggled goods.
Daniali went on to say that since two years ago, major foreign home appliance brands have left the country and Iranian producers have tried to fill the gap by increasing and improving the quality of their productions.
He said most of domestic producers have experienced 60 percent rise in production and therefore investments in this industry has grown and it is necessary the government to increase its role for meeting the needs of the industry.
He said one of the tasks of the government is to support the industries in the current recession condition and the decline in the purchasing power of the people in order save the country for a bigger crisis.
He then pointed to the condition of exports of home appliance and said that despite weak economic diplomacy and problems in transfer of money, Iran’s exports of home appliance are valued at around $200m per year and they are exported mainly to the neighboring countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia and few items to Europe.
Last week more than 300 websites that used to sell smuggled goods have been so far identified and shut down.
According to the report, the volume of smuggled home appliances has decreased from $2.247 billion in the Iranian calendar year 1397 (March 2018-March 2019) to $897 million in the current year.
