25th Int’l Building Industry Exhibition Opens in Tehran

TEHRAN (Iran News) The four-day exhibition will showcase the latest achievements in the construction sector with the participation of domestic and international companies. Delegations and exhibitors from several countries, including Singapore, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and China, are taking part, creating opportunities for enhanced trade and economic cooperation.

At the opening ceremony, Minister Sadegh praised the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives for organizing the event, noting that the exhibition’s continuity over more than two decades is commendable.

“The vitality of this exhibition is evident, and it inspires optimism for the country’s future,” she said. “Despite challenges stemming from the imposed war, private sector players and producers in the construction industry continue their activities with strength.”

Bahman Abdollahi, President of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives, described the construction industry as a leading driver of Iran’s economy due to its extensive backward and forward linkages with other sectors.

“We are not lacking in global technologies, and we have significant export potential,” Abdollahi said. He highlighted: Iran ranks fourth worldwide in ceramic tile exports.

The country has capacity for more than one million tons of annual steel structure exports, worth an estimated $2.5 billion.

There is potential for $40 billion in annual exports of technical and engineering services, of which $15 billion is related to construction. However, actual exports in 2022–2023 were only about $2 billion.” Building Industry”

Abdollahi added that the construction sector can mobilize more than 130 related industries. While housing growth has been modest in recent years, he believes Iran can reach the target of building one million housing units annually. Cooperatives alone currently have 54,000 housing units under construction, most with over 80% progress, and hold 5,000 hectares of land ready for development. He noted that if government hurdles are cleared, 100,000 housing units could be launched this year and completed within two years.

This year’s exhibition hosts 551 major domestic producers, along with 25 foreign companies from six countries and 70 delegates from 12 nations.

Mohammadreza Rezaei-Kouchi, head of parliament’s Housing Commission, called the exhibition “a golden opportunity” for boosting domestic production of construction materials and strengthening exports. He stressed that parliament’s Housing Production Leap Plan is designed to ease housing supply, provided all institutions actively cooperate.

Shamseddin Hosseini, head of the Economic Commission of parliament, also praised the Chamber of Cooperatives for organizing the event. He noted that while the seventh development plan envisions a 7% overall economic growth with 9% growth in the construction sector, actual growth has been only 3.3%. He emphasized the need for stronger financing mechanisms, better coordination, and reforms in land allocation policies to help the housing and construction industries achieve their targets.