BIRJAND Managing director of "Kavir Tire" plant in Birjand, Mohammad Hossein Zeinali said here Tuesday that excessive import of tire has made domestic producers confront crisis.

He told IRNA that last year around 50,000 tons of tire worth $95 million were imported into the country.

He added that if the above budget had been partially allocated to optimize the domestic tire production plants a great improvement would have taken place in the industry.

Referring to the production capacity of eight tire producing plants in Iran estimated at 230,000 tons, he said that while the industry is 43 years old the amount of its investment is just limited to $

He said that the total sale of the domestic tire production plants exceed Rls.3,000 billion.

Criticizing the current unfavorable and unstable tire market situation in Iran, he added that out of the eight domestic tire production plants, only two made profits.

He added, "Under such circumstances, the tires imported into the country are stored under the worst climatic conditions for many months, especially in dubai where they are exposed to hot sun rays." He

Pointing to date of inauguration of Kavir tire plant in september 1998, he added that it was put into operation with just two types of tires and a daily production capacity of 2.5 tons.

he said, "despite all executive difficulties and the shortage of liquidity, the plant is currently operating with a daily production capacity of 50 tons of over 63 types of tire in different sizes and

he noted that various measures have been taken to qualify the plant to compete on the market, such as improving the production equipment, optimizing its potentials and making a new investment of rls 2

he also spoke of the production of white-brimmed tires by the end of the current year.

he added that through innovation and application of the up-to-date technology, a new size of tire is to be presented to the market each month.

he said that once the plant was inaugurated, the tire market had such an attraction that its sales representatives were prepared to submit an advance payment (deposit) worth rls 50 billion and even wa

he added "given the present market condition, we have remitted the entire amount of the deposits and the sales representatives' total advance payment of over rls five billion as sale, which has confro

he also referred to the prospect of receiving the iso 14001 and iso/ts international certificates within two months and nine months respectively.

he added that the sale of tire at the branch offices of kavir tire plant in birjand, mashhad and zahedan during the last iranian year exceeded rls 65 billion.

he also pointed to the prospective establishment of a permanent fair and sales and after-sales office in shiraz.

he concluded that the production of kaveh tire plant during last year shows a 68 percent boost compared to 2000.