TEHRAN – About 10,000 passenger cars were imported into Iran’s customs campuses in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20 to July 21, 2024), an official with the Iranian Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry said.

Mehrdad Khosravi, director of the Automotive Industries Office of the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade, said over 11,100 vehicles were imported in the previous Iranian calendar year, IRNA reported.

“There are currently 19,000 vehicles also waiting to be cleared in the customs and 43,000 vehicles are also in free zones or being transported into the country; in total 82,365 vehicles are under import processes,” he said.

Back in June, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) said more than 12,000 brand-new passenger cars were being imported into the country.

Offering the latest report on the situation of import of passenger cars into the country, Mohammad Rezvanifar said 4,015 passenger cars were cleared and imported into the customs offices of the country in the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 21).

Rezvanifar put the value of the cars imported into the country at $88 million.

Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade lifted the ban on car imports in late May 2022.

The decision was made to reduce the imbalance between supply and demand and to improve the country’s economic conditions with regard to foreign currency revenues.

Iranian automakers currently produce about one million cars annually, while the domestic demand for automobiles is over 1.5 million, so since the domestic manufacturers are not able to meet the market’s demand the government decided to allow imports.

Iran's major carmakers produced more than 1.13 million passenger cars in the previous calendar year ending March 19, showing a six percent growth compared to the figure for the previous year.

EF/MA