The decorative stone market has been going through a period of low demand with many processing units closed. While some blame the problem on poor exports resulting from low quality of Iranian decorative stones, the sector has also failed to attract domestic consumers due to high production costs and rampant imports.
Modern technologies and equipment are required to put the industry back on track, and that is exactly what the Italian stone experts accompanying the Italian Economic Development Minister Federica Guidi and Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni offered in their recent visit to Iran.
“Negotiations for cooperating with Italy in production of high quality decorative stones was ongoing even before the Italian delegation’s visit,” Eghtesad News quoted head of Iran Stone Association, Abolghasem Shafiei as saying.
According to Shafiei, Iran’s cooperation with Italy will entail importing modern technology and machinery to improve production quality on par with foreign competitors.
“Iranian decorative stones are currently unable to compete in international markets with countries such as Turkey. Moreover, excessive imports and high export duties have aggravated the manufacturers’ problems,” he said.
Deputy chairman of Iran Mine House, Mohammadreza Bahraman pointed to Italy’s history of cooperation and trade with Iran, noting that the visit by the Italian ministers and their accompanying trade delegation is a clear sign that they wish to further expand this cooperation.
“Iran possesses tremendous potential in the mining sector which can be unleashed through cooperation with European countries by importing modern technology and equipment,” Bahraman said.
