TEHRAN- Annual export of Iran’s home appliances rose 12 percent in the past Iranian calendar year 1401 (ended on March 20), the director-general of the Home Appliances Office of the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade announced.

Mohsen Shokrollahi said that the value of the country’s annual home appliances export was $440 million in 1401, while the figure was $393 million in 1400.

He said 64 percent of the total exports of household appliances was related to refrigerators and freezers, 16 percent to heating and cooling equipment, and seven percent to small household appliances in the previous year.

“Iraq, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia have been the top destinations for the export of Iran’s household appliances. The products of China and Turkey are among our competitors in the target markets”, the official added.

In terms of the plans of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade to increase the export of home appliances in 1402, Shokrollahi said the plan of the ministry is to increase the quality and lower the price of household appliances in order to compete with foreign brands.

Mentioning the solutions for the sustainable export of household appliances, he said: “This year, apart from the export of the final product, we can contribute to the sustainable export of household appliances by joint production with the target countries and by complying with the standards of the importing countries.”

As previously stated by the official, about 65-70 percent of the parts required to manufacture home appliances are domestically produced.

Shokrollahi said: “But for some items and products, such as refrigerators and washing machines, this is even higher than 90 percent, and we plan to reach 100 percent.”

The home appliance industry is one of the industries that faced significant production growth in the past Iranian calendar year, so it can be said that Iranian manufacturers were able to take a significant share of the market in the production of refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, evaporative coolers, and TV sets, and even in small household appliances, the production status is outstanding.

Shokrollahi has said: “Despite the problems, 1401 was a busy year in terms of increasing production, and we were witnessing good growth in various items of household appliances.”

The official announced that about 600 home appliance production units are active in the country.

“The home appliance industry is a growing industry and this industry is developing by launching new production lines, for example, last year we launched 27 new production lines, including 10 refrigerator production lines, six microwave and small household appliances production lines, four washing machine production lines, three dishwasher production lines, and one TV production line”, he added.

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 six years.

MA