China, the world’s third largest and the most populous country, is one of Iran’s main trading partners. The country’s large workforce and cheap raw materials have turned it into a major producer and exporter, the products of which are classified into seven categories based on their customer’s order and destination markets.
According to Nazanin Karimlou, a senior international trade expert, the quality of some Chinese products is so high that top companies such as Apple and Mercedes-Benz have outsourced their production to the country and have considerably reduced their production costs, our sister newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported.
Iran has experienced flourishing commercial relations with China in recent years, exporting oil and oil products, butane and propane gases, aluminum and copper ore among other things and in return importing a plethora of products, the necessity and quality of which are disputable, our.
“In cases where a similar product of agreeable quality is domestically produced, imports are unreasonable, for not only does it damage the local producer but also drains a large amount of foreign exchange resources,” she said, adding that setting high tariffs for these kinds of items and extending support to Iranian producers can help reduce unnecessary imports from China.
Karimlou noted that in terms of quality, unfortunately, Iranian merchants often import inferior goods from China, because of which customers are forced to frequently replace their purchases that, in some cases, jeopardize their health.
According to the expert, in developed countries such as Germany, Japan and South Korea, both importers and exporters have to abide by stringent international standards for product quality.
She added that companies in these countries appoint supervisors who monitor the production process and the loading of goods in the exporting country.
“One way to ensure Iranian merchants, consumers and officials of the good quality and precise quantity of products before their shipment is by conducting inspections through international companies like SGS and INTERTEK.
Such companies inspect, verify, test and certify the compliance of quantity, weight, quality and performance of the products, systems or services with health, safety and regulatory standards set by the governments, standardization bodies or customers.
“If proper control is executed on imports from China and strict rules are imposed, Iranian traders will be encouraged to purchase and import goods of high quality and a reasonable lifespan,” she concluded.
