TEHRAN – Home appliances production in Iran increased by nine percent during the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, according to an official with the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade.

Mohammad-Mehdi Baradaran, the deputy industry, mining and trade minister for public industries, also has announced that Iran’s export of home appliances increased by 11 percent during the first four months of this year, form that of the previous year.

The home appliance industry is one of the industries that faced significant production growth in the past few years, 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.

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 two years so that this industry’s production increased by 18 percent in the past Iranian year (ended on March 19).

In mid-June, the secretary general of the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers in Iran said the production of home appliances increased by 18.2 percent in the previous Iranian calendar year compared to a year before.

According to Omid Fazeli-Nia, production of home appliances reached 19.5 million units in the previous year from 16.5 million units a year earlier.

Back in January, the head of the Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers in Iran said that over the past few years, the production of home appliances has increased from eight million units to more than 17 million units

Alireza Mohammadi Daniali said that the industry has expanded by 25 percent.

Mentioning some of the challenges that manufacturers of home appliances are currently facing, the official said: “Producers have problems such as mandated pricing, lack of liquidity, lack of foreign currency supply, and exports, which need to be addressed and resolved.”

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the country has exported non-oil goods worth $17.5 billion in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year, registering an 8.0-percent growth, year on year.

Mohammad Rezvanifar put the total value of the country’s non-oil trade in the mentioned four months at $36 billion.

According to the official, Iran imported $18.5 billion worth of non-oil products, about 6.0 percent less than the figure for the previous year’s corresponding period.

The country’s trade balance was $1.0 billion negative in the mentioned four months, indicating a significant decline compared to the previous year’s same period.

In the first four months of the previous Iranian year, the country’s export of non-oil goods stood at nearly $16 billion, while the imports during this period were about $19.5 billion. The trade balance of the country was negative $2.5 billion during this period.

MA