According to the International Iranian Stone Exhibition, Iran is one of the richest countries in terms of decorative and construction stone reserves with a single-digit rank. In fact, the geographical and natural situation of the country has given us this comparative advantage, while the stone field has not been able to grow as it should and may not have been able to take over the markets.

Experts believe that by focusing on the weaknesses of this sector, ie paying attention to reducing raw material sales, increasing processing, branding, marketing, proper management, reviewing the status of successful countries, training human resources, eliminating brokers and such factors, we can take positive steps to improve and prosper the industry. Let's take the country stone.

Stone has a geographical advantage

Behnam Amini, Vice President of Isfahan Mining House, referring to Iran's geographical advantages in the field of stone, said: Iran is one of the five pure countries with decorative stones in the world. Our distance from the equator has resulted in good sedimentary rocks such as marble, as well as volcanic effects have led to granite in a variety of spectra; Therefore, Iran has a geographical advantage in the field of stone.

Referring to the need to use mechanisms for stone export, the Vice President of Isfahan Mining House continued: "Stone is not like a car that several countries produce and we have no advantage, but we can say that Iran has a wide range of decorative stones." It has a kind of monopoly. In the meantime, addressing this commodity, which is a God-given advantage, can certainly help open up Iran's export markets.

He emphasized: "We have always shouted that you should pay more attention to the decorative stones of the building, because half of the marketing path has been unconsciously walked by these stones and it is enough for us to go the other half of the way."

Iranian stone called "China"

Referring to the export capacity of Iranian stone, Amini said: "Considering the price of the dollar, we can say that we even have capacity in the processing sector." Alas, foreign markets are closed to us due to banking and Swift problems. Unfortunately, the regional export markets, such as Turkey, Iraq and Oman, have not been considered by the government.

He lamented: "Iranian stone goes to India and China in blocks and is cut there as Chinese stone and sent to more distant markets such as Canada and the United States."

The deputy head of Isfahan Mining House, pointing out that the problem of the stone field is in the structural sector, clarified: we should start with training, assess needs and then move to exports.

 In fact, stone exports in Iran are not done systematically, but rather as an island, individual and corporate. In the meantime, the quickest way is to identify the islands and strengthen them, not to say that anyone who can exploit them will also receive the facilities.

"The injection of unplanned liquidity only plunges us into a quagmire and makes the private sector more indebted," he said.

Seek to remove stone traders

Amini also stated about the importance and role of Isfahan Stone Consortium: This consortium is in fact the wing of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade and the private sector. If new mines are to be discovered, the consortium can direct them to what stone to obtain an exploration license for. In fact, the effort is made so that anyone who finds a piece of rock can not disturb nature and ruin the market; In Shiraz, for example, three or four models of Dehbid stone are introduced, while none of them is Dehbid stone, but the brand brokers copy it and confuse the market.

The Vice President of Isfahan Mining House continued: "Words such as super export, first class and excellent show that the private sector has not worked in the targeted stone industry and has only played with words." At the same time, the audience can not correctly identify the stones with these words.

He emphasized: the lack of a systematic, cross-sectional and principled training has caused us to go in this direction.

Contact the education department

In the end, Amini emphasized that there was no renaissance in Iran yet: with oil money, we entered the industry in the 1940s and thus Peykan was produced, but we moved the snowplows and then realized that we proceeded according to British machines. We see this trend in all other sectors, including the stone field.

He stressed: the government has not been able to establish a good relationship with the country's education sector; Therefore, the relationship between universities and the stone sector is completely broken. Unfortunately, we do not have a lithology field in the country, which has caused the domestic market to be out of order and its tensions to enter the housing sector, for example.

Iran has the cheapest raw stone in the world

Siamak Akhtari, a mining expert in Europe, referring to Iran's advantage in the field of building stone, said: "Iran supplies the cheapest raw stones in the world, and this includes decorative, metallic and non-metallic raw stones." Since energy and labor are cheap in Iran, despite all the obstacles, stone production in Iran still has an advantage.

The mining expert, in response to the question that some believe that the export of crushed stone is not considered a crude sale, continued: Regarding the export of crushed stone, it should be said that at first the argument was that crude is not sold, but this argument has been rejected for several reasons. One of the reasons is that the extraction technology to extract rock from the heart of the mountain eventually creates for us the raw material of the stone industry, which is called raw or rav in all parts of the world, and in the English dictionary it is referred to as raw block. Becomes; So the block or coupe is the raw material of the processing plant, and after this process, we have to go through the process of creating added value; In this way, we make more use of this area by creating an advantage in production.

Asked what we need to make money in the field of stone and create added value, Akhtari said: "We need people with high insight and self-confidence in the Iranian stone industry whose vision is based on national interests." Unfortunately, over the decades, the self-confidence of the Iranian stone industry has decreased due to incorrect valuation and comparison with international stone brands in the world. This comparison has made the external appearance appear superior, its taste is considered the basis and criterion, and as a result we find a fundamental setback.

Referring to the example of Italian fabrics and suits, he said: "When we only offer fabrics, Italian suits gain added value." If we sell fabrics for years, it is at the end of this taste and fashion that they take the lead with a global dominance; Unless tailors with Iranian taste are found and branded.

Unsuccessful export management

"We have a rich history and civilization, and there is no doubt about the talent of the current workforce," he said. In the meantime, we only have a few people who believe that we have the capacity to brand ourselves.

He continued: "Today we are not talking about the weakness of technology; Because fully automatic machines have entered the country in various forms, but our main problem is that we have not been successful in export management. Today, technology is at our disposal, but we have done little to train efficient human resources with self-confidence and self-reliance with respect for the Iranian identity in the Iranian stone industry, and it can be said that we have suffered from union laziness in this field.

He continued: "We should not be an exhibition of other competitors, but we should see how much our own branding capacity is." In the meantime, any kind of grammatical restriction in determining the market trend can have adverse effects. We need to move further towards an incentive approach to processing and exporting. In this way, with efficient management, we can limit the export of cobblestones and in return encourage and help to create an export space for processed stones.

Status of successful countries

Referring to the situation of stone exports in the successful countries of the world, Akhtari said: "Well-known countries in the stone industry, in addition to exporting processed stones, also export stone blocks (block stones); But the important point is their entry in the table of statistics, which shows the weight percentage and volume percentage of rocks. Paying attention to the figures of these countries in the field of stone exports also shows that the processing sector is less profitable for them with less in the table but with more added value. We realize this when we focus on the processing profits of the five marble-exporting countries, namely Turkey, Italy, China, Greece and Spain, and compare it with the selling value of cups and slabs from the same countries.

Asked what his proposal is for technical and professional support for Iran's stone exports, the mining expert said: "The establishment of mining holdings, the growth of processing and the accumulation of forces in between can be key, and the establishment of a consortium in imitation and incomplete chance for It does not succeed. By studying successful international experiences, we come to the conclusion that the executive management of such projects should be outsourced to a manager who is not present within the collections themselves.

Target market marketing

"Today, you have to pay to enter the markets, and one of those costs is the cost of market engineering research and marketing," he said, noting the importance of market research. We need to check what stones are in the market in what colors and with what quality. Understanding the target market entry corridors means the hierarchy of access to the end consumer market. In the meantime, raising the quality at all levels, from answering the phone to sending emails and the quality of production and packaging are all important. Establishing effective communication through presence in the target market means continuous presence, having a local business partner and distribution warehouse and high responsiveness.

He emphasized: the world has long been moving towards project-centeredness in the stone industry. We need to know that the current market rules are constantly changing; Italy, for example, shows that with the machine-building industry and the creation of taste for the customer, we must also be able to correctly identify the rules of the consumer market.

"Capital plays an important role in business success, because having opportunities in the target market represents your strength," he said, noting that we need to be present in the target market. Your responsiveness when you have a warehouse in the target market differs from the ground up to the sky when you only show the customer a photo of the quarry and the factory.

"Today, the era of email marketing is over, and the other world is close, effective, cyberspace, and impactful content creation," he said. Therefore, covering the mentioned weaknesses, there is no reason for Iran to remain at the current point as a country with an ancient history in the field of stone industry.

Principles of Successful Marketing

A warning on what steps should be taken to increase stone exports: With the requirements of an export process, we can move towards processing-oriented and project-oriented in the stone industry.

The mining activist pointed out the following: spending a lot of time and money to produce a product, constantly attending meetings with traders, constantly communicating with traders, importers, wholesalers, bankers and distribution centers, traveling to foreign countries, Inviting foreign traders and warmly welcoming them, strong presence in foreign and international exhibitions, strong communication with chambers and business consultants, mastery of business language and terms, having strong connections with shipping and training foreign trade photographers to traders are among these.

Akhtari added: "In general, export means following the trade laws and updating international trade techniques by following the example of advanced countries such as the United States, China, India and Germany;" So we must always be learning and eager to discover the world of successful photojournalists.

He stressed that the processing-oriented approach should be supported and, of course, policies should be adopted that lead to the creation of a strong industrial base for the export of processing ores.