In preparation for the start of the new school year, the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade gave a report of stationary production. Based on these statistics, the production of pencils in the first four months of the current year has shown a 7% growth compared to the previous year.
The production capacity for pencils in six manufacturing plants employing 500 people is in total 820 million units.
The General Director for Chemical and Cellulose Industries at this ministry, Parvin Nabati said: “The domestic demand for pencils is around 230 million units which is satisfied domestically. Pencils, pens and notebooks are in the list of purchase prohibitions of similar foreign product for Governmental organizations. Furthermore by issuing an import tax of 55% and adjusting the base import price, we are seeking to support domestic producers.”
The domestic production capacity for pens is 635 million units which is twice as much as the domestic demand. “Some pens are manufactured under license from Canada”, added Mr Nabati.
Based on figures from the Customs Agency, since 2016, the base price for imported pencils has been set as 6.5 Dollars per kilo for Chinese pencils, 7.5 Dollars per kilo for Non-Chinese and Non-European pencils and 8.5 Dollars for European pencils. The base price for imported pens has been increased from 2 to 6 USD-Cents.
“Currently, 127 production facilities manufacture school notebooks with a nominal capacity of 166 thousand tons. These facilities employ 2900 people and have a capital of 377 billion IRR”, continued Mr Nabati.
Due to the high volume and quality of domestically produced notebooks, a large portion is exported and there is little demand for importation. In the last Iranian fiscal year, 1395, 1.7 thousand tons of notebook valued at 1.4 million USD were exported. At the same time only 9 tons of notebooks were imported into the country.
