The 12th Isfahan Auto Parts Exhibition opened on Tuesday with the participation of 130 local and foreign firms.
Aside from leading Iranian parts maker SAPCO and its subsidiaries, local representatives from Tehran, Isfahan, East and West Azarbaijan, Fars, Gilan and Mazandaran provinces are also attending the event at Isfahan's International Fairground.
The main areas of focus are production, exports and imports, IRIB News reported.
Exhibitors have also come from Germany, China, South Korea, France, Japan and Switzerland, among other foreign players. They are showcasing a wide range of services and products, including auto parts for light and heavy vehicles, as well as factory equipment.
A conference of auto parts industry is a notable side event planned at the hall of Isfahan's Chamber of Commerce.
The visiting hours of the four-day expo, which closes on May 13, are 4-10 p.m.
Suffering Sector
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, Mohammad Mojiri, the deputy head of Isfahan's Industries, Mining and Trade Organization, noted that the auto parts makers of the province are producing parts of acceptable quality and the technical abilities of the workforce in this sector are up to par.
"Despite this, the sector is suffering in many ways," Tasnim News Agency quoted Mojiri as saying. The main issue, Mojiri added, is the dependence of parts makers on a limited number of local automakers, hence establishing international business connections with foreign automakers would help remove many obstacles.
"The biggest issue here is that local carmakers receive payments for cars sold in cash, but when it gets to paying their debts to the auto parts makers they can barely keep up with the small installments planned," he said.
To resolve this problem, Mojiri suggested that the exports of local-made auto parts must be promoted further. To meet international standards, the first step is to further increase the level of know-how in the field. For helping the auto parts sector, relevant organizations in the province have been tasked with identifying the active, semi-active and non-active auto parts manufacturing units. The province plans on lending support in the form of loans to firms that need financial assistance to help them resume production. Loans to these firms, he cautioned, must be extended within a clear framework so that it does not add to, but rather reduces, the problems of auto parts manufacturers.
"Carefully executed, the plan should result in growth," he said.
New Hologram
Esmaeil Masoumi, the head of Isfahan's Auto Parts Retailers' Association, noted that a prominent trading firm will unveil a new brand and hologram at the event, ISNA reported.
The official said that every year, a large number of substandard auto parts enter the country via official or non-official channels, and are sold as original auto parts.
To help counter this risky business, the new hologram named Shenasa will hereafter be used to certify the quality of standard auto parts. "The auto parts will be assessed and those that observe the standards will be branded with the new hologram," he said.
Statistics released in October 2015 indicated that the debt to the auto parts manufacturing sector is estimated at 40 trillion rials ($1.2 billion at market exchange rate), Khabar Online reported at the time. "About 10,000 people working in auto parts manufacturing units were laid off or temporarily suspended," Mohammad Reza Najafimanesh, the secretary of Iranian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, had said at the time.
The official warned that a major crisis looms, which will take its toll on auto parts manufacturing industry and other sectors directly or indirectly working with the auto parts makers if their problems are not addressed.
