Rise in Stationery Production

The share of domestic manufacturers in the production capacity of stationery products has increased from 20-40% over the past two years, the head of Stationery and Engineering Equipment Sellers Union, Mousa Farzanian, said.
Referring to the long process of raw material imports as one of the main concerns of producers these days, Farzanian told Mehr News Agency that, for example, while production of pencils is dependent on wood imports, it takes several months for traders to import wood. “The country needs 360,000 tons of stationery paper, of which 50% have been supplied,” says Mohammad Reza Kalami Bajestan, director general of the Economic Affairs and Commercial Policies Office with the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade. Domestic producers can only make 50 million notebooks of up to 140 million notebooks needed for the new school year, which starts on Sept. 23, he added.