The Director of the Association of Tire Importers, Mohammad Mirabedini has said that while there is an annual demand for 400 thousand tons of tires, only 250 thousand tons are domestically manufactured. Mr. Mirabedini told Donya-e-Eghtesad that although domestic manufacturing cannot satisfy market demands, the import tariff for tires has been increased from 32% to 40% which will lead to more tires entering the country as contraband. Currently, approximately 30% of imports are contraband especially tires for heavy vehicles.
He also pointed the lower quality of Iranian products and said, since Iranian tires do not satisfy a number of standards, exporting tires is impossible in spite of the 60 year history of this industry in Iran. 40% of tires for automobiles, 80% of tires for heavy vehicles, and all industrial tires are supplied via importation.
