The Organization of Spectacles Distributors and Manufacturers in Tehran said that the four domestic producers of eyeglasses lenses only produce between 200,000 and 300,000 lenses annually. On the other hand, domestic demand has been estimated around 7 million lenses every year.
“Iranian lens manufacturers buy machinery at higher than normal rates but they only produce customized lenses,” said Hamid Sabetqadam, the head of the organization. He added that although European lenses have the highest quality, Chinese and Korean manufacturers have the biggest market share in the Iranian market.
Sabetqadam further stated that domestic companies no longer produce frames in the face of cheaper Chinese products.
Some three million pairs of lenses are needed for sunglasses every year, while total eyeglasses consumption requires a production of about 5 million pairs.
Official statistics provided by the Customs Administration show that during the first six months of the Iranian calendar year—which started March 21— sunglasses were mainly imported from China, UAE, Germany, Italy, Turkey, France, and Hong Kong. The total worth of these sunglasses was $1.56 million.
Experts believe current import tariffs for glasses, which stand at 40 percent, are too high. Considering the importance of optic standards for eyeglasses, major importers have on various occasions called on the government and the parliament to reduce these tariffs. They argue that a reduction of tariffs would significantly decrease the smuggling of spectacles, which are often not standardized, into the country.
