China’s National Building Material Company and Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran, affiliated with the Industries Ministry, signed a $74-million contract to build a fiberglass and composite manufacturing factory in the city of Marand in East Azarbaijan Province. The agreement was reached in Tehran on Monday, the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad reported. As much as $50 million of the capital needed for equipment imports, according to Nematzadeh, will be financed by Chinese banks while Tehran will provide the rest of the capital covering procurement of domestically-made equipment and construction costs. The minister also noted that “based on the contract, the Chinese company is required to export 50% of the company’s output.” The project is scheduled to complete in 24 months and the factory will have the capacity to produce 30,000 tons of fiberglass and composites per year. According to Nematzadeh, the capacity could be expanded threefold if Tehran is satisfied with the performance of the Chinese company. China’s National Building Material Company, established in 1984, is a state-owned enterprise administered by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. It is engaged in cement, lightweight building materials, glass fiber and fiber-reinforced plastic products and engineering service businesses. Iran consumes 40-50 million tons of fiberglass annually.
