TEHRAN- Production of TV sets in Iran has risen over 30 percent during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), compared to the same period of time in the past year, the secretary of Association of Audio-Video Appliances Manufacturers told IRNA.

Mohammadreza Shahidi announced that over 400,000 TV sets have been manufactured during the five-month period of this year, while the figure was about 300,000 in the same time span of the previous year.

He said that there is no problem in terms of TV sets manufacturing in the current year, adding that supply of the required foreign raw materials needs $300 million this year.

The spokesman of Iran’s Home Appliances Manufacturers Union has said that one of the country’s major manufacturers is going to produce 1.5 million of various affordable home appliances and distribute them in the market by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

According to Hamidreza Ghaznavi, the mentioned appliances include refrigerator, stove, washing machines, 32 and 43-inch TV sets and vacuum cleaners.

These devices are meant to be distributed among the low-income classes and will be sold in two packages, Ghaznavi said, adding that they will be of good quality and the manufacturer is not going to make any profit from selling them.

Based on the official data published by the Ministry of Industry, Mining, and Trade, in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20), domestic companies produced 210,200 TV sets, registering a 49.4-percent growth compared to the same period last year.

Also, the production of refrigerators and freezers increased by 7.9 percent to reach 328,500 units and the production of washing machines registered a 115.1-percent rise to reach 207,400 units in the mentioned period.

In early July, Ghaznavi had said that Iran is expected to become an exporter of some home appliance items as of the next Iranian calendar year (starts in March 2021).

“If the currency problems are solved and steel sheets and some petrochemical products are provided for this industry, we will become an exporter of some household appliances by the next year,” he said.

In recent years, the Iranian government has been following a new strategy for supporting domestic production to neutralize the impacts of the U.S. sanctions while reducing the reliance of the economy on oil revenues.

The home appliances sector has not been an exemption and like many other areas, the production of home appliances has witnessed a significant rise in the past two years so that in the previous calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19) this industry’s production capacity increased by 10 percent compared to the preceding year.

MA/MA