Seoul said it will soon dispatch a diplomatic team to Tehran for talks over the seizure of its tanker by Iran over environmental violations.
National
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01/06/2021 -
01/06/2021Pakistan’s minister for narcotics control expressed concern over poppy production in Afghanistan despite the presence of foreign forces and said Pakistan wants to exchange effective intelligence with Iran to strengthen joint cooperation against illicit drugs.
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01/06/2021The number of overnight deaths in Iran came down from triple-digit figures after 200 days, with the Health Ministry reporting 98 fatalities on Tuesday.
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01/06/2021Iran’s Monday move to enrich uranium to 20% purity as per a parliamentary legislation does not mark an end to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name of the 2015 nuclear deal, as it can be restored to its original shape once all parties resume their full commitment, an Iranian diplomat said.
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01/06/2021Seoul said it will soon dispatch a diplomatic team to Tehran for talks over the seizure of its tanker by Iran over environmental violations.
Energy
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01/06/2021South Pars Gas Field Phase 14 onshore refinery will go on stream by mid-2021, project manager of the phase said.
“Units including steam boilers and gas condensates storage facilities have become operational and other sections namely instrument air unit and gas sweetening trains are near completion,” Mohammad Mehdi Tavassolipour was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry news agency.
Construction of the overall facility has made 85% progress, he said, and added that the refining unit is equipped with six water boilers with combined capacity of 160 tons of steam per hour.
The boilers were built by Iran's top engineering and energy enterprise Mapna Group. Boilers are among the central systems of a refinery. -
01/06/2021The state-run Iran Power Generation, Distribution and Transmission Company (Tavanir) says the national grid cannot take loads higher than 40 gigawatts in winter.
Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, a company spokesman, said if demand surpasses 40,000 megawatts load shedding and outages will be inevitable, Bargh News website reported.
“For the first time in decades, electricity consumption in winter has exceeded 39 GW.”
Compared to last year consumption has risen by a whopping 15%, he said, and added that in January 2020, demand rarely reached 34,000 megawatts. It was 39,500 MW on Monday up 15% compared to the same day in 2020.
Domestic Economy
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01/06/2021Tehran-North Freeway Project’s Section-2 will be completed by the end of President Hassan Rouhani’s second term in office (August 2021) at a cost 37 trillion rials ($143 million), according to the head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran.
“We had estimated that the project would be completed with 20 trillion rials [$77.52 million] worth of investments but due to high inflation over the past months, we had to add a further 17 trillion rials [$65.89 million] to our initial calculations,” Mohammad Baqer Nobakht was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
“For the same reason [inflation], the 22-kilometer Section-2 project has to be completed as soon as possible.” -
01/06/2021Isfahan Province produces 11,000 tons of turkey meat every year, which accounts for 40% of Iran’s total production.
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01/06/2021Iran’s non-oil trade with the Eurasian Economic Union hit $1.4 billion during the eight months to Nov. 20, 2020, indicating an 11% decline compared with the corresponding period of last year.
Non-oil trade with EEU’s five member countries accounted for 2.8% of Iran’s total foreign trade over the period under review, Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture reported, citing data provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Exports to EEU stood at 1.8 million tons worth $639 million, registering a year-on-year decline of 20% and 6% in weight and value, respectively. Imports hovered around 2.33 million tons worth $772 million, posting a 15% growth in weight but a 14% decrease in value YOY.
Exports to EEU, in terms of value, accounted for 2.4% of Iran’s total non-oil exports during the period, indicating a 0.2% YOY growth. -
01/06/2021Flights to and from the UK will remain suspended until the end of the current Iranian month (Jan. 19), due to the new Covid-19 strain that is spreading rapidly in that country, Abolqasem Jalali, the deputy head of the Civil Aviation Organization of Iran, said.
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01/06/2021The government has decided to import about 2.3 million tons of wheat during the course of the current crop year (September 2020-21) to replenish its strategic reserves, according to the head of the National Wheat Farmers Foundation.
“Local farmers as well as our foundation are strongly opposed to this decision. We believe that if the guaranteed prices are reasonably set and the government devises proper policies for the annual purchase of the grain, domestic production can adequately meet the country’s demand,” Ataollah Hashemi also told Young Journalists Club.
The official noted that due to faulty policies and low guaranteed purchase prices set by the government, farmers refrain from selling part of their harvest and high-quality wheat suitable for human consumption is used as livestock and poultry feed because it pays better.
Hashemi said it is estimated that wheat production will exceed 13 million tons in the current crop year, which is sufficient to meet domestic annual consumption and to fill the government’s strategic reserves. -
01/06/2021Government revenues outweighed its expenditures by 40 trillion rials ($153.84 million) in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20), says Mehrdad Bazrpash, the head of Supreme Audit Court of Iran, the supervisory arm of the Iranian Parliament.
Every year, SAC publishes a monitoring report on the government’s performance, which provides information on financial flows and the implementation of government programs vis-à-vis the goals and targets set in the budget law.
Bazrpash said a total of 3,700 state agencies were audited for the 2019-20 annual report.
“Up to 113.4% of the government’s revenues and 112.4% of expenditures projected in the 2019-20 Budget Law were realized and revenues outweighed expenditures by 40 trillion rials [$153.84 million]. A total of 820 trillion rials [$3.15 billion] worth of participatory bonds were issued by the government,” he was quoted as saying by the Persian-language daily Etemad.
The SAC chief noted that of all the medical professionals (physicians, pharmacists, veterinarians, etc.) who were required to use point of sale machines, only 40% or 45,000 complied with the law.
Business & Markets
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01/06/2021Most commodity stocks in Tehran went into a tailspin on Tuesday as a government decision to intervene and control steel prices made the market jittery.
After sessions of bear market, stocks had rallied a session earlier only to be stopped in the follow-up to the seemingly controversial decision.
The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, lost 24,250 points, or 1.76%, paring all the gains made Monday. The TEDPIX is sensitive to the performance of large cap companies, which include the majority of steel, petrochemical and auto companies plus banks.
A large-scale sell-off followed after the Industries Minister Minister Alireza Razm-Hosseini said that his ministry wants steel products to be sold at the Iran Mercantile Exchange 30% lower than prices in international markets -- a move expected to hurt earnings of listed steel companies. -
01/06/2021The Majlis Joint Commission has made an amendment to the 2021-22 fiscal budget bill based on which state banks can increase capital by up to 100 trillion rials ($400 million) by selling nonfinancial assets.
According to the commission spokesperson, Rahim Zare'e, the decision is in line with efforts to help banks improve their financial structure, the parliamentary news website ICANA reported.
Guidelines are as per provisions of the law to Remove Barriers to Competitive Production and Improve the Financial System of the Country.
Government-controlled lenders include three commercial banks and five specialized lenders. Bank Melli Iran, Bank Sepah and Post Bank of Iran are the three commercial banks. -
01/06/2021After posting slight increases a session earlier, the US dollar climbed to 260,000 rials on Tuesday up 0.57% compared to the previous day's close.
The greenback was traded at 256,820 rials in the integrated foreign exchange market, 0.67% higher than Monday's 255,080 rials, eghtesadnews.com reported.
Bank affiliated moneychangers increased dollar price by 500 rials on Tuesday at 259,000 rials. The euro, however, lost 0.13% and fetched 317,890 rials. The European common currency had posted 2.13% growth on Monday. Exchange shops affiliated to banks priced it at 317,700 rials up 500 rials. -
01/06/2021The Industries Ministry on Tuesday announced a controversial policy based on which steel products have to be sold at the Iran Mercantile Exchange at prices equivalent to 70% in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets.
The announcement was made by the minister, Alireza Razm-Hosseini, who insisted that the news instructions must be fully upheld, IRNA reported.
The plan to intervene in the market and control steel prices has become a topic of hot debate among government officials, steel manufacturers and capital market authorities.
Policy and decision makers argue that such measures would “reduce the final price of steel in the domestic market and support end consumers”. But there is serious concern that such moves in essence have had the opposite effect and in the past filled the coffers of avaricious middlemen and given rise to rent-seeking.
Science and Technology
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01/06/2021Iranian officials have been working on replacing conventional water and gas meters with smart counterparts for years, but the program has been delayed due to reliance on foreign suppliers, high costs and import bottlenecks.
A local tech company has developed an Automatic Meter Reading device that curbs the use of human resources in meter reading, prevents delay and saves money for utility companies.
Based in Semnan Province, Kumeshian is a company that designs and manufactures electronic and mechatronic devices, and embeds industrial software, ISNA reported.
Mona Qodsi, the deputy head of the company, noted that the device is installed on conventional energy meters.
“It can collect consumption data from the regular electricity meters and transfer the data to a central database for billing,” she said.
“The device delivers information in real time and saves human resources spent on reading the meter manually. Long life, high speed and accuracy, plus lower cost of new smart meters are its other benefits.”
