Iranians chew 5 trillion rials ($147 million at market exchange rate) worth of gum every year, 83 percent of which is imported. This makes Iran the world’s largest consumer of chewing gum, IRNA reported on Wednesday. According to a report released by the customs administration office, about 400 tons of sugar free chewing gum worth more than $849 thousand were imported mainly from Poland (75 percent) Turkey (21 percent) , the United Arab Emirates (4 percent) during the first nine months of the current (March21-December 21). While the average tariff rate on imported goods stands at 15 percent, the tariff on sugar free gum is 50 percent, which is quite high and nearly the same as that of imported cars. Experts say the high tariff encourages smuggling of the sticky substance, much to the suffering of domestic manufacturers.
