Garment Producers Slam Smugglers

Garment manufacturers are grappling with recession due to smuggling, shortage of raw materials, sharp decline in purchasing power and lower consumption due to the outbreak of Covid-19.  
This was stated in a recent letter by textile and clothing producers’ unions addressed to Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi and published by the news portal of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture. A translation of their letter follows:
Given the $2 billion share of smuggling in Iran’s $8 billion clothing market and its upsurge in recent months, shortage of raw materials and equipment needed by factories as well as the sharp decline in clothing consumption and people’s purchasing power due to Covid-19, clothing and related industries have fallen into recession. Investment is going downhill, despite the low cost of job creation in this economic sector.