TEHRAN – Head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) visited some home appliance production units in Tehran during which the challenges facing the home appliance industry were reviewed.

During the visit, Masoud Khansari met with the managers and members of the board of directors of the mentioned units to discuss some solutions for the raised issues, the TCCIMA portal reported.

According to the owners of the mentioned businesses, banking problems, liquidity shortage and fluctuations in the foreign currency exchange rates are some of the major obstacles in the way of the developing export of Iranian home appliances.

The inefficiency of banks in the optimal allocation of necessary resources and facilities to industrial units and the problems created in granting production licenses to industrial enterprises were also mentioned as other problems faced by home appliance manufacturing units.

Over the past few years, the Iranian government has been following a new strategy for supporting domestic production to neutralize the impacts of the U.S. sanctions while reducing the reliance of the economy on oil revenues.

The home appliances sector has been one of the pioneers in this regard and like many other areas, the production of home appliances has witnessed a significant rise in the past four years.

Following the government's policy of supporting the manufacturing of home appliances, this industry has had a five-fold growth in output, so that it can meet the maximum demand of the market.

As an official with Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry has previously stated, the manufacturing of home appliances in Iran is expected to reach 18 million sets in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20).

According to Mohsen Shokrollahi, the director-general of the home appliances office at the ministry, there are currently 220 active home appliance manufacturing units in the country that managed to produce 16.5 million sets of products in the previous year.

Considering the previous year’s data, the manufacturing of the said products is expected to increase by 1.5 million sets (about 10 percent) in the current year.

Shokrollahi put the country’s total value of home appliances exports in the previous Iranian calendar year at $300 million, saying: “With the new approach, we will increase last year's exports and provide strong support to the home appliance industry by reducing raw material tariffs.”

The official mentioned some of his ministry’s programs for supporting the domestic production of home appliances in the country and increasing the self-sufficiency rate in this industry, saying: “This year, we are pursuing an increase in both quantity and quality of home appliance production; in this regard, new plans have been set by our office, so that the domestic production in this sector is increasing and new investments have been made.”

He further mentioned the significant role of the home appliances industry in creating job opportunities in the country and noted that there are currently 300,000 people working in this industry.

Shokrollahi also referred to the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s roadmap for the development of the country’s home appliances industry and said: “The roadmap for this industry is been formulated in collaboration with the country’s top think tanks and knowledge-based companies.”

EF/MA