Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 9
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's Industry, Mining, and Trade minister has called for liberalization of car prices in the country.
In separate letters to the president, the first vice president, and the director of the management and planning organization, industry minister Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said that the Iranian car industry is not monopolized, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on Feb. 9.
Nematzadeh also called for annulling an approval of the economic council regarding the monopolization of the domestic car industry.
Based on the Iranian law, cars are not among necessary and basic goods. So, the government should not be involved in pricing such products.
Some 930,449 cars have been produced in Iran in the first ten months of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21-December 22, 2014), 61.4 percent more year on year.
The Islamic Republic produced 989,110 cars in 2012, which made the country Asia's eighth largest car manufacturer. Iran also stood at the world's 18th place in the mentioned year.
Iran's automobile output faced a 40 percent decrease in 2012 due to the sanctions. The country was Asia's fifth largest car manufacturer in 2011, with a total output of 1,648,505.
Western countries suspended certain sanctions against Iran as the Geneva nuclear deal came into force on January 20. Iran was permitted to import materials for its auto-manufacturing sector as a result of the nuclear deal implementation, which has led to a sharp increase in the country's auto output in recent months.
Edited by CN
