70% Decline in Demand for Stationery, 20% Rise in Prices

Stationery prices have increased by 20% compared with last year due to the rise in production costs while demand for these products has dropped by 60-70% following school closures caused by the outbreak of coronavirus, Mahmoud Reza Sanatkar, the head of Stationery Producers’ Association, says. 
“Despite the decline in consumption, producers are continuing their operations just like before in the hope of market recovery. They can’t afford to lose their main capital, i.e. their workforce,” he added. 
The country produces an adequate volume of pencils and notebooks to export, but the government has banned the export of these items since it used to grant subsidies to production of pencils and import of paper, the Persian-language daily Shahrvand reported.