For the first time in recent years, SAIPA Citroen Company cleared its parking lot of all incomplete cars in the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22).
A total of 15,600 incomplete vehicles have been completed and sold in the market, according to the deputy head of SAIPA Supply Chain.
“On the order of the senior management of the group and the support of the CEO of SAIPA Citroen Company, as well as the efforts of all the company’s workforce, in addition to the completion of 15,600 vehicles, more than 29,000 cars were produced without a part deficit in the four months under review, which was 50% higher compared with the same period of last year,” Mehdi Sadeqi was also quoted as saying by SAIPA News.
Referring to the satisfaction of customers, the official said the company has been able to deliver more than 4,700 vehicles to customers during the period by reducing the delivery time for customers and increasing the capacity for direct sales to customers.
Output of SMC’s Aluminum Products Grows 4.5%
SAIPA Malleable Company, by improving the production process in the first four months of the current fiscal year, managed to record a 4.5% increase in aluminum parts production for Tiba, Pride and Nissan cars, according to the CEO of SMC.
“The company’s specialists and experts implemented n plans to solve the production stoppage due to power outages, sanctions and the preparation of raw materials in production units,” Shahram Moslempour also told SAIPA News.
He noted that the rise in the production of parts included all the aluminum products of the company, including the cylinder heads of Tiba, Pride and Nissan cars.
“In the casting process, it is important to maintain melting channels while producing aluminum parts, which plays an important role in the production of waste and the overall product quality,” he added.
Moslempour stressed that the improvement of production process in the aluminum casting unit is one of the challenges of achieving the targets of aluminum parts and supplying parts to SAIPA Automotive Group.
“The rise in the production of aluminum parts is the result of the precision of experts, the efforts of operators and other employees in this unit, which led to a series of process improvements and helped achieve the desired quality and ultimately boosted production,” he said.
Auto Spare Parts Top Contraband
Automotive spare parts topped the list of smuggled goods in the fiscal 2021-22 (ended March 20), according to Spokesman of the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange Hamid Reza Dehqani-Nia.
He announced that $17.1 billion worth of smuggled goods entered the country in the fiscal 2020-21.
The spokesman noted that after car spare parts, food was the second largest category of contraband last year, while computer equipment and home appliances respectively ranked third and fourth in the fiscal 2021-22, the news portal of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.
According to Dehqani-Nia, many household appliances in the Iranian market are counterfeit.
"These products are Iranian goods fabricated or repaired in unofficial workshops and sold in the domestic market as foreign and banned brands," he said, without mentioning the value of smuggled car spare parts.
Mohammad Reza Najafi-Manesh, a member of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture and chairman of the Association of Homogeneous Propulsion Industries and Component Manufacturers, said although car spare parts topped the list of smuggled goods, it is not clear how much was smuggled into the country and how many were produced by unofficial domestic units.
“In other words, if a product is found to be illegal, it may have been smuggled into the country, or illegally produced by unlicensed units inside the country,” he added.
Najafi-Manesh noted that another problem is that the size of the spare parts market in Iran is not known.
“Therefore, it was decided that ISACO, SAIPA Yadak and the Association of Homogeneous Propulsion Industries and Component Manufacturers join hands to survey the spare parts market and determine how much of it is domestic and what percentage comprises counterfeit production and smuggling,” he added.
In the field of auto parts, domestic car batteries and tires were mandated to have ID and tracking codes, and it was decided that 55 other commodities produced by 173 domestic companies would receive ID and tracking codes.
Najafi-Manesh noted that Iran has 1,500 car component and spare parts producers.
Smuggling of Car Tires Abetted by Import Obstacles
Due to a lack of authorized car tire import, the smuggling of tires is rampant, according to the secretary of Iran Tire Importers Association.
“If the government were to modify the current conditions and make it possible to import passenger car tires, it will be in the interest of both consumers and the government,” Mohammad Mir-Abedini was also quoted as saying by Khabar Khodro.
Currently, it is possible to import heavy vehicle tires, but due to foreign exchange obstacles, it is not possible to import car tires.
“The import of heavy vehicle tires is being carried out as per the needs, but the official import of passenger car tires is not possible due to fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate’s base price and the overall rise in the price of passenger tires,” he said.
The secretary of Iran Tire Importers Association noted that because of the reduction of customs duties and taxes, the import tariff for heavy and light tires has been reduced, and the tariff for passenger tires has decreased from 40% to 32%.
“However, due to the change in the exchange rate from subsidized currency [$1=42,000 rials] to Nima currency [$1=260,000 rials], and as a result of the 25-30% rise in the price of passenger tires, it is not possible to import from official sources,” he added.
In the Nima system, importers declare their currency needs, exporters register their currency proceeds and banks and authorized moneychangers act as dealers. As per the rules, non-oil exporters have to repatriate a portion of their foreign exchange earnings and sell it via Nima. They can also sell their currency to authorized exchange shops.
Referring to challenges facing tire importers, Mir-Abedini said, “The sample test by the Iranian National Standards Organization, the cost of tire clearance and value-added tax have imposed a heavy burden on traders.”
