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Iranian government pledges 40 trillion rial to drive indigenisation of foreign product parts
markets including Afghanistan and Iraq.
The total value of exported products in the H1 period stood at $1.74bn, at the fixed government exchange rate of IRR42,000 to one US dollar. In the H1 period of the previous Persian calendar year, the total value was $1.49bn.
“In this period, SMEs exported maximum volumes of their products to countries including Pakistan at $1bn, Iraq at $364mn, Afghanistan at $83mn, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at $50mn, Turkey at $36mn, Azerbaijan at $26mn, Armenia at $25mn and India at $20mn,” Masaheb said.
Popular exports included industrial machinery, white goods including fridges and freezers and gas heaters.
Iran has set aside Iranian rial (IRR) 40tn ($980mn at the official exchange rate, $172mn at the free market rate) for industrial indigenisation projects, Mehr News Agency has reported.
The country has a long history of taking foreign technology and making it its own. Examples of this in the auto industry include the localisation of the Peugeot 206 and 405 cars. The parts for these vehicles are now made by Iranian companies.
Mehdi Sadeghi Niaraki, Iran’s deputy industry, mining and trade minister for industrial affairs, reportedly said that the project was aimed at helping local businesses invest in new technology so that Iran can reverse engineer products and rely less on international supply chains, thus bringing the cost of production down markedly.
“In line with the ‘surge in production’ movement, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade is trying to use all existing capacities in the country,” the official said while launching the new programme.
In July, Niaraki said €277mn was signed over to auto part companies and automakers to indigenise the production of parts seen in foreign brands. It is believed the parts he was referring to included Peugeot 301 components. Iran’s industrial production index increased by 1.5% y/y in the second quarter of 2020.
16​ IRAN Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com