Iran exports $20 mn-worth tiles, ceramics to Pakistan in 8 months

Tehran, Dec 30 (IANS) Iran exported 8.5 million square metres of tiles and ceramics worth $20 million to Pakistan during the eight months to November 21.

According to Iran's commercial attache to Pakistan, Morad Nemati Zargaran, the export value will reach $30 million by the end of the current fiscal (March 20, 2018), Xinhua reported.

If the target value is achieved, Iran's tiles and ceramics exports to Pakistan will register a 50 per cent growth by the end of this year compared to the 12-month period last year, Nemati Zargaran said.

"Tiles and ceramics are Iran's second most exported commodity to Pakistan after bitumen and oil," he added.

Last year, Iran's exports of tiles and ceramics to the neighbouring country stood at $22 million.

Pakistan's demand for tiles and ceramics stands at 100 million square metres per year, of which only 20 million square metres are produced domestically, said Nemati Zargaran.

Exports to Pakistan come as Iran's ceramics and tiles industry is hit by recession.

In February, more than 150 million square metres of tiles and ceramics in excess of demand were piled up in warehouses across the country, Chairman of Iran Ceramic Producers Syndicate Behnam Aziz-Zadeh was quoted as saying.

"Local producers are operating at less than half their production capacity," Aziz-Zadeh said.

According to the official, the two main factors causing the market recession include the ongoing stagnation in the construction sector as well as the ceramic and tile industry's overproduction due to unrestrained issuance of factory licences during the 1990s

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