According to the International Stone Exhibition of Iran, there are about 300 fifty stone processing units in the central province, of which two hundred and eighty are located in the locality, but stone production and processing in the area, like many industries, has been subject to market stagnation. Construction is underway and stone-cutting units have also been challenged.

On the other hand, the lack of up-to-date technology has led to about 50% of the raw material of these scavenging units and besides the problem caused by the depreciation of the equipment and the scavenging units have been struggling with it for years, government pressures such as tax collection, insurance , And additional bank interest on the cause.

In this regard, ISNA sat down with two activists in the field and government officials to discuss these challenges and to find a solution to the challenges.

Gholamreza Miri, secretary of the Mahalatan Association of Stone Makers, pointing to the advanced stone industry in the central province, said: “Mahalat city has advanced factories operating with new technology, but due to the stagnation of the stone market that followed the stagnation of most factories In the city, neighborhoods are closed or semi-active.

He added: "The market downturn is very severe and has caused highly advanced quarrying units to remain inactive."

Referring to the activity of about three hundred stone units in Mahallat city, Miri said: "About 30 percent of the stone units in the city are closed and the rest of the stones work at 50 percent capacity."

"Until a few years ago, all night shift units worked, but now with the decline in production, night shifts have also been closed," said the secretary of the Mahalat County Board of Trade Unions.

He said: There are about three hundred and fifty stone processing units in the central province, of which two hundred and eighty units operate in Mahallat.

Miri said the lack of construction and consequently the decline in production was a reason for the problems in transportation and said that transportation of raw materials was also a problem because the factories were no longer able to purchase raw materials.

"In the past, trucks used to carry cargo three times a day, while these figures have been summed up three times a week," said Mahalat, the secretary of the Mahalat County Guilders Association.

He said: Stone blocks have no problem supplying fuel because of reduced production and market downturns; the fuel in the production lines is gas and gas has been supplied to all industrial towns.

"Scouring units work with electricity and the cost of electricity is high, although we do not see a power outage, but since March last year the price of electricity has risen, and this increase, under the name of Damand, has led to higher prices and on average more electricity bills," Miri said. Of three million USD.

He emphasized the need for this sector to change technology, said: "In the last two years no facilities have been injected into the sector and the dredging units have not been able to update their machinery to reduce costs and increase production."

Forty-five to fifty percent of the raw material of the stone-throwing units turns out to be waste, said the secretary of the Maharashtra Guilders Association.

Mir explained: Eight meters of crop yields eight tons per ton of stone and twelve to fourteen meters in up-to-date machinery, and if production reaches above 15 meters to compensate.

Hossein Soroush, secretary of the Iranian Stone Association and chairman of the board of directors of the Mahalat Sangraban Trade Union, said: "Given the economic downturn in the market, the construction industry is sleeping in government and private construction projects, so there are warehouses. We are overwhelmed with the product without the customer and the industry is in a coma.

He said that the weakness of liquidity has always been present in the industry and is exacerbated today. He said that government pressures, including collection of various taxes, insurance and bank profits, have also contributed to the cause.

Soroush said: In recent years we have been trying to update the technology of stone quarrying units. Although it is far from modern technology in the world, new lines have been introduced and the best and newest stone production line in Mahallat city has been purchased, But despite the investment made in this area, unfortunately we do not have a market.

The secretary of the Iranian Stone Association stated that the transport sector would also be overshadowed when it was unloaded, and that this sector would be in recession as well, because when a quarry unit was closed neither the raw material nor the depot would be shipped.

Referring to the high stone throwing in this sector, he said: "Stone is a natural product and the structure of the rock and mine affects the quality of the product, reducing the outflow requires more investment and the need for better rules in the field of mining and mining rights protection." And there are activists in this sector.

The lesser the threats in this sector, the more productivity will increase, said the chairman of the board of directors of the Maharashtra City.

Soroush said: "In the field of processing, since we are dealing with a natural substance, waste is inevitable, but this will be minimized with the advent of technology and the industry's approach to this issue." In the past from mining to processing, we had 80% of waste, but today it has dropped to 50%.

"Of course, this can be reduced to 20 percent, which requires government management, investment, training and planning and support," he said.

The government should provide the industry with facilities to bring in new technology and minimize waste, but it will not do so, he added.

Soroush said artisans have gone to great lengths to reduce waste, and it is the government that must create the necessary mechanism and safe space.

He said that the standard of extraction of one ton of stone is more than 18 meters but in our country is 10 meters, adding: "We still have eight meters of waste and reaching this level to the international standard requires training and investment to introduce new technology."

Soroush, referring to the production of three percent of the world's ornamental stones, having 12 percent of the world's travertine and thirty-five percent of the country's crude stone production in Mahalat, said: The country's capacity in the processed stone is thirteen million square meters, ten to fifteen. Percentage belongs to Mahallat city. So that in annual localities between one and three to one and seventeen million square meters of processed stone is produced.

Alireza Salimi, a member of the People's Assembly of Mahalat and Delijan in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, also stated that due to some unprofessional decisions and the stagnation of the market, we face serious challenges in both the production and processing of stone.

He said the government is now seeking to suspend mineral rights for the past few years, saying that it is not fair to burden the mines when the mines are in dire straits.

Salimi pointed out: the mines in the swamp have made decisions and their movement has slowed sharply.

He also pointed to the challenges of the VAT sector in this sector and said: in the VAT sector, it is the consumption tax, not the production tax, while currently unfortunately they have put a heavy pressure on this sector. And in this case, stone quarrying units, crude stone production and mines will be challenged.

"The government has failed to levy taxes on consumers, and because of the fact that they are manufacturers of IDs, they have been under tremendous pressure," said a representative of the Mahalat and Delijan city council.

Salimi said that some decisions in the mining and mining complex are not conducive, adding that the Tax Administration has put additional pressure on this sector; Daytime conditions not taken.

He noted: Stone quarries and mines have also been challenged, and we are facing a large number of expulsion forces.

Salimi attributed some of the challenges to the large sector and said that the slump in the housing market has been compounded by the extent to which many stoneworks have been left on the ground and warehouses filled.

Representatives of the people of Mahalat and Delijan in the Majlis said: "Increasing electricity and gas rates during this period of recession have also challenged the units, and some quarrying units cannot afford electricity and gas."

"Unfortunately, there are no serious decisions and no will to solve some of the issues, and this is worrying," he said, adding that he is an emergency patient and wants urgent decisions.

Salimi went on to say that exports were challenging in this sector and that the main consumption was related to the domestic market. He added that some measures have taken the exporters' terminals and customs away from them and strengthened their competitiveness. Stone crop exports have also been in serious trouble, and the necessary support is not provided by the ministry concerned.

The representative of the people of the neighborhoods and the delinquents in the Majlis pointed out: "Today we need an urgent decision in the production and processing of crude stone.

Referring to the activity of five thousand stone units with employment of one hundred and sixty thousand people in the country, he said: In the city there are three hundred stone units in the district, most of which have been moderated.

Emphasizing that the stone sector requires urgent assistance from the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Commerce, Salimi said: "If the High Council of Mines fails to give this sector the wall it may collapse."

A representative of the people of Mahalat and Delijan city in the Majlis said: "The authorities should unlock the chains and allow the producer to move on."

He continued: "If we put some of today's non-expert decisions behind the wheel of mining and quarrying this sector will move."

"We are losing global markets because of the delays in this sector," Salimi added.

According to the People's Representative of Mahalat and Delijan in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the international market is thirsty for Iranians, but losing the opportunity will make others replace us and it will be difficult to enter these markets.

Sayyid Ahmad Sajjadi, the governor of Mahalat, also said: There are about seventy-five travertine mines in the city, and about two hundred and seventy stone excavation units, only ten percent of which have up-to-date machinery and the rest are old.

He pointed out the sixty-percent outflow in mining and quarrying because of the old machinery: "This sector requires investment, but unfortunately they have not invested in quarrying, and have various excuses to do so, but not the stone market, of course." Not stable.

Sajjadi said that due to the stagnation in the construction market in both production and processing of stone we are stagnant which leads to the unemployment of the workers and we have no choice but to think about stone exports and this is why the stone exhibition is more booming this year than other years. We hold.

The district governor stated: If a unit has not been able to renew itself after fifteen to twenty years of activity in the field, it is not because of lack of facilities, but because the market has not been very good and those who have invested elsewhere have also invested. Have.

He said: "We've had some problems with facilities over the past few years, but these facilities have existed in the past, and dredging units should have at least used those facilities to update their machines."

Sajjadi, referring to the resistance economy approach to internal capability, said: "We have to think of internal capabilities, but as long as the technology is needed and the technology is not available, if we wait to get to technology, we are behind. You have to invest and introduce new technology.

"In the stone industry, as the world is ahead of us, if we only think of the domestic market, we are lagging behind, so it is better to outsource technology when we need technology and replace new technology," said Mahallat, the governor of Mahallat. do.

He added that because we are capable in many areas, but the city plan in this area does not work, a national plan for mines should be prepared and formulated.

Regarding the leadership's emphasis on replacing mineral production with oil and leaving the single-product economy, Sajjadi said: "Oil should become a product, and stones and mines should also be a product." Although the government has been in financial straits for the past two years, it has taken good steps to increase non-oil exports.

The district governor of Mahallat said: "Unfortunately we are under pressure because of the recession, but our approach may not be calculated, but using these machines and labor we need to increase labor efficiency and acquire a market overseas that depends on Not to crude stone and to export most of the processed stone. It is essential to facilitate export.

He added: "Somehow our country is import-oriented and we have to move more towards export-oriented, simplifying customs rules and regulations so that we can export.

Sajjadi said: The government should also assist the industry in this field and provide overseas in the form of economic groups and teams.

Referring to the foreign countries' favor to Iran after the nuclear agreements and the hope created by these trips to our country, he noted: We must take care not to suffer from post-sanctions unsafe conditions.

According to the official, of the total annual harvest of about two million tonnes of ore in the neighborhoods, 25 percent is processed inside the processing district and the rest in other provincial units.

According to the report, it looks like all the way to attracting investors is in this regard, and the action the public sector must pursue in terms of vigor and power is to attract investors, though realizing this will require the necessary infrastructure and the creation of a single capital window. Investments in the area that have not yet been completed in the city of Mahallat and Markazi province.

* ISNA