The 16th International Exhibition of Home Appliances opens at Tehran’s International Exhibition Center today and will run for four days.
Referring to the exhibition slogan of “Let’s Get to Know Iran-Made Home Appliances Better”, Iran’s Home Appliances Association Secretary Habibollah Ansari told lkiran.com that supporting domestic producers is the main goal of this year’s event.
The Iranian home appliance market has been severely hit by smuggling and high imports, which experts believe has undermined domestic production. Many businessmen believe the government should support domestic production by improving the business environment and encouraging the export of Iranian products.
“About 100 companies in the home appliance sector have gone out of business amid low demand for domestic products,” said Mohammad Reza Dayani, the head of Home Appliances Manufacturers Union, earlier this year.
“More than 500 major firms active in the production of electronic home appliances are operating at 20-60% of their capacity.”
Dayani noted that foreign products hold 65% of Iran’s home appliance market share, while only two South Korean companies hold a 55% share–an apparent reference to Samsung and LG Electronics.
“Home appliances account for 13% of all the goods smuggled into the country,” he said.
The Trade Promotion Organization of Iran announced in August that imported household appliances sold through sales outlets other than the licensed representatives of those brands in Iran will be considered illegal and confiscated as of September 22.
“Violators will be fined four times as much as the original price of the seized items,” ISNA quoted the head of Iran’s Home Appliances Association, Mohammad Tahanpour, as saying.
Nonetheless, it is unclear how the measure would be implemented.
According to Mohammad Hassan Qahri, a member of Home Appliances Manufacturers Union, Iranian companies seek to team up with prominent international brands to form joint ventures for the production of home appliances.
“The move is aimed at lowering the cost of well-known products that are currently imported, generating jobs and transferring the latest technologies used globally into the domestic sector,” he said.
Domestic manufacturers are also looking to export products made through the joint ventures.
According to Qahri, Persian Gulf countries, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria are among potential export destinations.
Evaporative coolers (also known as desert coolers) were the main export item in the home appliance sector during the first six months of the current Iranian year (started March 20). More than $90 million worth of evaporative coolers were exported during the period.
Other major exports included refrigerators ($6.03 million), water heaters ($3.6 million) and washing machines ($509,000), ISNA reported.
Iraq, Afghanistan, Persian Gulf littoral states and Africa were the main export destinations.
