The Caretaker of Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade say due to the sanctions, Iran’s carpet and flooring export is experiencing its worst condition as the revenue in this sector has slumped to from $2b to $60m.
TEHRAN – The Caretaker of Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade says due to the sanctions, Iran’s carpet export is experiencing its worst condition as the revenue in this sector has slumped to from $2b to $60m.
Speaking in the ceremony of signing an agreement for constructing 800 kilometres of the railroad, Hossein Modarres Khiabani said the ministry has an expanded plan for increasing the steel production capacity as the country exported 57m tons of different steel products and increasing the number of exports needs boosting transportation sector.
He said steel ingot export will increase from 28m tons to 42m tons and today 26m tons of different types of steel products will be added to the list of exports.
Modarres Khiabani added that one of the important factors in the export of steel is the logistic and transportation, adding that today the project for the construction of 800 kilometres of railroad between Bafq and Sangan which is launched is an important event in the cargo transportation field and the project will definitely help provision of raw material in the country and at the same time it will help exports.
He emphasized the share of rail transportation from the total transportation in the country is extremely low, adding that rail transportation for transfer of cargo and passengers should be boosted.
He further said that transportation of basic goods has improved from 10 percent two years ago to 25 percent but it is still unacceptable.
Modarres Khiabani reiterated that production without developing infrastructures and logistic as well as growth in transportation sector is impossible.
He pointed to the capacities of mines in the country, adding that Iran’s mineral reserves are estimated at 53b tons as the ministry has issued license for exploiting 700m tons but only 500m tons have been exploited.
He noted that while Iran accounts for one percent of world population, its mineral reserves are 2 percent and mines are the only major option for a replacement for oil revenues.
Modarres Khiabani added that the burden of oil sanctions is currently on the shoulder of mines sector, adding that if Iran’s economy is single-product, it only belongs to the mine sector.
He said undoubtedly shipment of 500m tons of minerals through road transportation is impossible and rail transport should also enter the scene.
He once again reiterated that in industry ministry, there is nothing more important than domestic production, expressing satisfaction that a dairy producing company exports products worth $600m.
On the condition of carpet exports, he said unfortunately due to sanctions, the carpet export experiences the worst condition as the revenues of this sector from export has fallen from $2b to $60m.
Modarres Khiabani reiterated that the ministry only believes in imports of three types of goods and they should be raw material, basic goods and parts which are not produced domestically.
Later during the ceremony marking the national industry and mine day, he said today industry accounts for 23 percent of jobs in the country and 76 percent of the total non-oil exports.
He further said that statistics show that the trade in the country is returning to the pre-Coronavirus era.
