A total of $80 million worth of apparel were exported from Iran in the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2022).
Neighboring countries, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to Eurasian countries, were the main destination of exports, according to the director general of Textiles and Clothing Industries Department of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade.
Mohsen Gorji added that the ground is being prepared to gain a foothold in the Russian market, the news portal of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported.
“Just like last year, the import tariff for clothing raw materials in the fiscal 2023-24 will be 1%,” he said.
There are 700 clothing manufacturers and 300,000 trade and distribution units in Iran, which provide employment for around one million people.
Iran’s apparel market is worth $9 billion, according to the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade.
Imports of apparel into Iran have been banned for many years now. However, their smuggling is rife into the country and the local market is awash with contraband.
There has been an apparent decline in the value of Iran’s apparel market. The diminishing purchasing power of the average Iranians and the Covid-19 pandemic to a lesser extent have been cited as the main reasons for the decline.
The value of the market was put at more than $12 billion in the fiscal 2017-18 by the secretary of Producers and Exporters of Textile and Apparel Union.
Saeed Jalali Qadiri added that smuggled products make up around $2 billion, or 25% of Iran’s annual apparel market.
“Presently, the lion’s share of apparel smuggled into Iran are off-season brands sold at discounted prices that happen to be even lower than the production cost and that of the raw materials combined with price tags no one can compete with,” he said.
Garment manufacturers are grappling with recession due to smuggling, shortage of raw materials and the sharp decline in purchasing power and dwindled consumption due to the outbreak of Covid-19, reads a 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 in early 2022.
