TEHRAN- Manufacturing of refrigerators and freezers in Iran during the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21- April 20) has risen 115 percent from that of the same month in the previous year, IRNA reported citing the data released by the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade.

As reported, 102,400 refrigerators and freezers have been manufactured during the mentioned month.

In the first month of the current year, domestic companies also produced 68,700 washing machines, registering a 68.9 percent increase in production compared to the same period last year.

The production of water air coolers has also witnessed a growth of 64.7 percent in the said month and domestic manufacturers succeeded in producing 111,800 units of this product.

Last year, more than 15 million units of various home appliances were produced in the country, which was 78 percent more than the figure for the preceding year, according to Industry Ministry data.

The ministry has it on the agenda to further increase the production and exports of home appliances in the current year.

Last week, Keyvan Gordan, director-general of the electrical, metal, and home appliances office of the Industry Ministry said that $200 million worth of home appliances were exported during the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

The Industry Ministry has targeted $600 million of exports for the mentioned sector in the current year, Gordan had announced.

“This industry has provided 300,000 direct jobs as well as one million indirect jobs in the country and 500 manufacturing companies are currently active in this sector,” the official said.

Since the U.S. reimposed sanctions on Iran to pressure the country’s economy, Iran has been taking all necessary measures to mitigate the impact of the sanctions and counter the U.S. actions.

Improving and boosting domestic production has been one of the major strategies that Iran has been following in the past two years in order to increase its independence.

To realize this objective, providing the required working capital for the production units and offering them facilities is one of the major measures being pursued by the government to support these units in the current year which is named the year of "Production: Support and Elimination of Obstacles" by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

EF/MA