According to Iran's International Stone Exhibition, the 9th Iran International Stone Exhibition is being held these days in Nimar Mahalat in Markazi province and is considered the most important economic event in the region.

The stone industry is a long-standing industry in the area, and the miners of Mahallat County are well known in the country.

On the other hand, a high percentage of the people in the region are working directly or indirectly in the industry, which is estimated to number 10,000.

The existence of more than seventy active ore mines and two hundred and eighty stone processing units is considered as a strong potential of this area as far as Nimar has been called the capital of Iranian rock, but in recent years due to the market downturn and reduced construction activities. And in the construction industry, the stone industry also faced serious problems and lost its former boom. Mehr examines the problems of this industry.

Stone processing plants need to be refurbished

Aziz Mirzaeian, Senior Advisor to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, said: The biggest threat to the stone industry in the country is the consumer market, as construction activities have declined since 2013 and there is a problem in the stone and building materials market.

"There are about 6,700 stone processing plants in the country, but ninety-five percent of them need to be rebuilt," he said.

The senior advisor of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce stated that in the world there are eighteen square meters of cut stone produced from every one ton of stone, but in ninety-five percent of the country's factories, this amount reaches seven square meters and about sixty percent. The waste is produced.

Mirzaiian added: Due to the sanctions, the technical knowledge of the stone industry has not been upgraded and modern technology has not entered the country.

He added: For export development export consortiums should be formed and identified with expert work on export problems and solved with the support of authorities.

The Chairman of the Commission of Mining Associations of Iran noted that the Investment Fund for Mining Activities provided for in Article Thirty-one of the Mining Laws can support export consortia by providing the necessary funds and issuing guarantees.

Mirzaiian added: "The idea is to prevent crude sales and we have to move towards creating value added exports."

He added that in the current situation, there is no opportunity to create value added in exports, adding that there are currently more than four million tonnes of stone and copper in the country, and stone warehouses and factories are full, but there is no market for them.

We have to sell the stone

A senior advisor to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce stated: "An appropriate production-support program can provide value added opportunities, but in order to prevent the loss of stone reserves, we have to continue crude sales and work alongside it." BS.

"Due to traffic and road problems, it is not possible to have large volumes of heavy mining machinery, processing plant equipment, and stone blocks at exhibitions held in metropolises," Mirzaiian said, referring to the Nemar Stone Exhibition. Gathering all of this at Nimvir City Stone Exhibition is a strength for the exhibition.

He said: The stone-carving exhibition was held by the private sector and has grown in this period than in the past and it is possible to develop it.

The senior adviser of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, near the location of the exhibition to the country's populous cities and the presence of huge stone mines in the city, described the benefits of the Neighborhood Stone Exhibition. Governments can expand exports and increase investment in this area.

Mines are struggling to procure new equipment

Behnam Nikfar, Managing Director of the 9th Iran International Stone Exhibition and Chairman of the Central Chamber of Commerce Mining Commission, said: In the past years, lack of technology in mining and stone processing has always been one of the serious problems in this field and now with the entry of technology and technical knowledge Some of the problems have been alleviated in the country.

He added: "In Iran's stone mines, old and low-cost mining machinery is in operation and it is very difficult to obtain spare parts because of their trafficking and the dealers offer these parts to mining activists at a very high price."

Nikfar said: "Due to the lack of a purchase factor for such parts, it is very difficult to offset the value added tax and taxes for second-class mines."

He said: "If mining machinery is upgraded and the government relocates the mining facility, it can save up to 70 percent on fuel, which is very effective at reducing production costs and protecting the environment."

Vice President of the Iranian Stone Association emphasized: In the past few years the banking sanctions have hit the country hard stone exports and now with the government's regulation conditions have improved slightly but no export field has been provided to the producer.

The introduction of export duties reduced the amount of exports

Before the economic sanctions were imposed, the country had very good export conditions, but with export duties on the Copper, exports stopped and Iran's presence in world markets and exhibitions diminished to $ 12 million, Nikkeefar said. Exports amounted to $ 800,000 a year.

He said that one of the solutions to be present in export markets, holding and attending various international fairs, added: In the 9th Stone Exhibition, we saw a 25% increase in the number of participants than the previous period and the volume of stone carp presented Seventy percent increased during this period.

Managing Director of the 9th International Stone Exhibition of Iran added: This year's exhibition for the third consecutive year will feature the largest Middle East stone carpets in the Middle East.

Nikfar went on to say that a ten-year plan for the Nemvir Stone Exhibition has been made to become an international rock base and be able to compete with the world's first level exhibitions.

Given the government's emphasis on shrinking its body and the forty-four constitutions of the private sector, the now-privately-owned Iranian Building Stone Exhibition in Nimar has enabled the region to prosper and prosper. The development and valuation of non-oil exports is a major step forward, and government support will certainly play an important role in boosting private sector investment and boosting the country's stone export boom.