A coalition of eight reformist parties has issued a list of candidates for the fast-approaching parliamentary election scheduled for Feb. 21.
A coalition of eight reformist parties has issued a list of candidates for the fast-approaching parliamentary election scheduled for Feb. 21.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on Iranian eulogists to redirect people’s lifestyle toward Islamic ways by promoting the lifestyle of eminent Muslim personalities.
LNG producers are encouraged to cut supply amid the global glut that is helping drive down prices in Asia, or push more volumes to markets beyond Europe, perhaps Latin America.
South Zagros Oil and Gas Production Company, a subsidiary of the National Iranian Oil Company, has manufactured and repaired 1,500 parts used in the oil and gas industry with the help of domestic companies over the past fiscal year), the SZOGPC managing director said.
“The parts include control valves, impeller valves, pumps, filters, hoses and connectors, gas and air compressors, and turbines among others,” Hamid Izadi was quoted as saying by Energy Today website.
The company operates 11 oil and gas fields in five provinces in the south and southwest and produces 235 million cubic meters of gas per day.
Iran holds the world's second biggest natural gas reserves after Russia.
Gas production has surpassed 870 million cubic meters per day and a large number of city and village dwellers are supplied with the fuel which has affected people’s well-being positively to some extent.
Officials often proudly trumpet their success in expanding the natural gas network (including in far-flung villages) over the past four decades. However, the long-term effects of what they claim to be a blessing is not very clear as it can be a curse as well.
One question academics and energy experts have raised is, “Was it really necessary to invest billions of dollars to lay huge pipelines and supply 80 million people with gas so that they could heat up their homes when there were other viable options?”
A total of 186 tons of saffron worth $200 million were exported from Iran during the first nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Dec. 21, 2019), according to the executive manager of the Agriculture Ministry's National Medicinal Plants Project.
“This year, more than 404 tons of saffron were harvested from over 114,000 hectares of land,” Hossein Zeynali was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
“Iran exports saffron to 10 countries, mostly through the UAE,” Mohsen Ehtesham, the head of Iran's National Council of Saffron, has been quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Spain, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Italy, Afghanistan, Qatar, India, Germany and France are the main destinations of Iranian saffron.
The Purchasing Managers' Index for the industrial sector during the 10th month of the current fiscal year (Dec. 22, 2019-Jan. 20) settled at 51.92 from 56.93 in the preceding month, indicating a 5.01-point or 8.8% decrease month-on-month.
It is 16 months now that the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture is publishing reports on the PMI of industrial sector.
The industrial PMI is based on a monthly survey sent to senior executives of more than 400 companies. It is based on five major survey areas: New Orders (30%), Raw Material Inventory (10%), Production (25%), Supplier Deliveries (15%) and Employment (20%).
The surveys include 12 questions about business conditions and any changes, whether it is improving, no changes or deteriorating.
Excess production and price decline have inflicted losses amounting to 11 trillion rials ($79.13 million) on Iranian chicken farms over the past four months, the head of Iran Broiler Breeders Union’s board of directors said.
Boroumand Chahar-Aeen added that the losses are expected to reach 12 trillion rials ($86.33 million) by the end of the current fiscal year (March 19), Young Journalists Club reported.
“There is going to be a production surplus of 80,000 tons in the current Iranian month [Jan. 21-Feb. 19] as well as in the next one (Feb. 20-March 19),” he said.
Iran exported 2.26 million tons of commodities worth $867 million to Pakistan during the nine months to Dec. 21, 2019, to register a 20% rise in tonnage and a 3% decline in value compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Pakistan had a 2.7% share in Iran’s total exports during the period, Donya-e-Eqtesad reported, citing data provided by Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.
Pakistan exported 293,000 tons of goods worth $331 million to Iran during the same period to register a 48% and 58% growth in tonnage and value respectively year-on-year.
Pakistan had a 1% share in Iran’s total imports during the period under review.
Iranian home appliance market had a turnover of $3.3 billion in the last fiscal year (March 2018-19), the head of Home Appliance Sellers and Producers Union said.
Morteza Miri added that contraband products accounted for $2.2 billion (66.66%) of the sum, Fars News Agency reported.
“Two out of three home appliances in the domestic market are contraband,” he said, citing data provided by the Headquarters to Combat Smuggling of Goods and Foreign Exchange.
He noted that efforts are underway to supplant contraband home appliances with domestic products to fulfill domestic demand.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, gained 2,908.82 points, or 0.63%, on Saturday to end trading at 461,988.4.
About 6.23 billion shares valued at 39.26 trillion rials ($284.53 million) changed hands for the day.
Trading at TSE and over-the-counter Iran Fara Bourse starts on Saturday and ends Wednesday.
Iran’s capital market is capable of financing half of the domestic oil projects, the CEO of Securities and Exchange Organizations said.
The oil industry needs $30 billion in funding, Shapour Mohammadi said, citing earlier statements by Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh.
“The capital market is capable of meeting at least half the funding needs of oil projects,” he told the Petro Financial System Development Conference in Tehran on Saturday, SENA news agency reported.
He pointed to the potential of the Iran Energy Exchange in financing oil ventures, saying the value of trade in the domestic energy market increased dramatically in the current fiscal year (March 2019-20).
Iran’s total external debt was $9.05 billion by the end of ninth calendar month (Dec. 21, 2019) of the current fiscal year, according to the Central Bank of Iran data.
The amount is a small increase compared to the $9.01 billion a month earlier. However, compared to the same period in the previous year, the overseas financial commitment has declined.
External debts declined 10.8% compared with December 2018 when Iran was $10.03 billion in arrears. Compared to the end of last fiscal year (March 20, 2019), debts declined by 3%.
The employment rate in the third quarter of the current Iranian year (Sept. 23-Dec. 21, 2019) was at 39.6% (24.44 million), up 0.4% compared with the same quarter of last year, the Statistical Center of Iran's latest report on Iran's job market shows.
Employment is defined as persons of working age engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit, whether at work during the reference period or not at work due to a temporary absence from a job, or to working-time arrangement.
In other words, employment rates are defined as a measure of the extent to which available labor resources (people available to work) are being used. They are calculated as the ratio of the employed to the working age population.
A nationwide scheme has been launched to convert 1.5 million gasoline-powered public transport vehicles to compressed natural gas hybrids.
Started by the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company on Thursday, the scheme offers subsidized conversion services to drivers of public transportation vehicles. The drivers are only charged $300-400 for the tanks, depending on the type of car and size of CNG tank, ISNA reported.
Drivers can visit the website Irngv.ir to submit their application and undergo the process.
Navid Khassebaf, a senior official at the CNG Tank Producers’ Association, told reporters that the current domestic capacity of CNG tank production is over 700,000 per year.
“Therefore, the 1.5 million target can be reached through proper planning in two years,” he said.
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