Despite shortcomings in Iran’s packaging industry, the country’s glass packaging, particularly in food industry, is in good condition, as domestically-made glass bottles are exported to neighboring countries such as Iraq and Turkey.
Around 10,000 tons of pharmaceutical glass bottles were imported over the past years, mostly from China. This is while Iran is capable of meeting the domestic need for pharma glass bottles.
On the capital needed to venture into mass production of pharmaceutical glass bottles, a board member of Hamedan Glass Company, Nima Jahed, believes pharmaceutical bottle manufacturing is a risky field and that it is of great importance to use raw materials of high purity, the Persian daily Forsat-e Emrooz reported.
“The industrial machines used are also different from those used for manufacturing regular glass bottles. That is why a large part of the machinery is imported,” he said.
“To set up a production line for pharmaceutical glass bottles with a capacity of 30,000 tons per year, you will need an 8,000-square-meter plot of land and 100 staff members. To purchase the equipment and special furnaces, you will need 300 billion rials (about $10 million). Finally, around 200 billion rials ($6.6 million) are needed to procure the raw material.”
The permits are obtained from the Department of Environment, the municipality and the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade. The final product should be approved by the Health Ministry.
The flexibility of glass in its molten state during the forming process allows for a wide variety of products. In fact, the design of the bottles is a key factor to consider amid competition in this business.
Iranian producers make thousands of glass bottles of all kinds every year.
Glass is a healthy material that provides an ideal solution to the packaging demands of food and pharmaceutical industries. The impermeable nature of glass makes it a safe form of protective packaging.
In addition to being an excellent barrier against the external environment, glass containers do not interact with or alter the taste or composition of the products they contain, unless they are exposed high temperature.
