Essential goods worth 3.2 trillion rials (around $40 million) hoarded in nine warehouses of Tehran Province have been confiscated by police over the last week, the commander of Tehran’s Law Enforcement Force said.
“The hoarded commodities included tires, MDF pallets, rice, pulses and other foodstuff,” Hossein Rahimi was also quoted as saying by ILNA on Saturday.
One case of confiscation was related to a stockpile of shoe raw materials, including glue, soles, heels and shoelaces, hoarded in a warehouse in Tehran’s Kahrizak District in Rey County, which was seized by ‘Tazirat’ Organization (a judiciary-affiliated oversight entity dealing with trading offenses).
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.
These discoveries are 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’, the details of which were not outlined.
Since then, officials have called on the public to inform authorities of hoarding and stashing cases.
President of Chamber of Guilds Ali Fazeli said withholding products from the market is a punishable offense. He has attributed the practice of stashing to market uncertainty and fear of inability to replace 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.
