A stash of shoe production raw material, including glue, soles, heels and shoelaces, hoarded in a warehouse in Tehran’s Kahrizak District in Rey County was confiscated by ‘Tazirat’ Organization (a judiciary-affiliated oversight entity dealing with trading offenses) on Monday.
According to a producer, accompanying the inspection officers, the confiscated raw materials were sufficient to produce a year›s supply of shoes for the entire domestic market.
The warehouse belonged to an importer who had received subsidized foreign currency to purchase the goods, the Persian news website Fararu reported.
Shoe producers in Tehran Bazaar had, over the past few days, staged protests against the shortage of raw material.
Monday›s discovery is part of efforts by a taskforce named «Intensified Fight Against Hoarding and Stashing» newly founded on the order of Industries Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari last month.
A few days later, the minister unveiled a list of goods to be targeted by the new taskforce. It includes a wide range of products, namely wheat, barley, rice, field corn, soy meal, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable oil, sugar, butter, red meat, chicken, eggs, milk powder, home appliances, freezers, washing machines, TVs, spare parts, rubber, publication paper, washing powder and construction material, IRNA reported.
The items also included a category titled ‹production raw materials›, without further details.
Since then, officials have called on the public to inform authorities of hoarding and stashing cases.
According to Shariatmadari, the taskforce is working to maintain market balance by supervising imported commodities or ones produced using imported raw materials that have been purchased using subsidized foreign exchange rates, and preventing disruptive activities in the market such as hoarding and stashing.
Earlier, President of Chamber of Guilds Ali Fazeli explained that withholding products from the market is a punishable offense. He attributed the ongoing practices of stashing to uncertainty in the market and fear of inability to replace the sold goods.
Iran›s market descended into chaos after the value of rial fell drastically over a very short period of time following, among other reasons, the US decision to quit the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, and reimpose sanctions on Iran›s economy.
