According to the International Stone Exhibition of Iran, although the foundations for stone products have recently been established, but accelerating the completion of the dependency industry chain and optimizing the use of decorative and processing capacities in artistic and industrial stone products is the key to employment and prosperity. And it should be given special attention.

Iran is the world's fourth largest reservoir of rock, with four billion tons of the world's seventy billion ore ore reserves. According to the available documentation, the annual export of raw stone and processed stone is $ 50 million, of which $ 70 million is exported to Iran through the export of raw stone and $ 80 million.

At a glance, it can be said that the major exports of Iranian stone are unprocessed limestone products that cross the border in a raw, unprocessed manner, and target countries with pockets of profit and value added chains. They kick.

According to the report, there are seventy active mines in the neighborhood of the city, with a definitive reserve of 30 million tonnes of ore and two million tonnes of ore per year. More than two percent of the world's stone production is extracted from the mines of Mahallat city, and it produces ten and eight percent of the world's travertine stone.

There are two hundred and eighty eighteen million square meters of processing units in Mahalat, which comprises thirteen and three volumes of processed rock in the country. However, countries such as Italy and Turkey, using state-of-the-art technology in converting industries, convert raw stone or copper produced in the city into high-quality, customer-friendly products and export them back to Iran at high prices. For Iran's stone industry.

If the planning for mineral processing is carried out in the country, the economic development coefficient of the country will increase and the profits from this location can be directed to the development of industrial and industrial infrastructure.

The 9th International Stone Exhibition of Iran in Nimvar, a suburb of Mahalat, which took place from September 24 to September 27 with the participation of state officials and the Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade, was an opportunity to present the capabilities of the Iranian stone industry The other perspective demanded an expert and sharp look at the problematics and opportunities for this important area of ​​the country's production.

At later conferences and speeches by various officials at the exhibition, the consensus on the development of the industrial product processing chain was highlighted as a demand for the Iranian stone industry, requiring targeted implementation strategies and special support for fertility-generating arms and generating effective revenue. The sphere should be taken and this God-given privilege be in its favor in the shadow of principled guidance based on the guides of resistive economics.

The Minister of Industry, Mining and Commerce at the Ninth International Exhibition of Minerals in Mahallat said: "In the post-Brjam situation, the country's industry is experiencing a growing trend and needs to be fostered in the mining industry, including the stone industry. We have to leave it on the long and painful path with the will of the feet.

Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh believes that the added value and wealth production of the country is the current need and the driving force behind the outflow of industries from stagnation and prosperity. It is decisive.

He said: Iran's stone processing industry should be based on international demands and international tastes and production on the basis of domestic taste does not compete with it.

In his speech, the Minister of Industry, Mining and Commerce emphasized the strengthening of rock clusters, consortia or large export-led marketing and marketing companies, and called the achievement of this goal a product of devising, planning and synergy in implementation.

Nematzadeh added: Equipping mines and stone processing units with modern machinery and equipment is inevitable because paying attention to this important quality will result in higher production, lower costs and higher productivity.

He said: Mahallat city has the capacity of processing machinery industry and if this industry is set up, employment and income will increase.

In early September, the deputy head of the cooperatives of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare traveled to Mahallah city and a meeting with the cooperatives and economic activists of the city emphasized on the establishment of export cooperatives and said: Export cooperatives are a factor for promoting productivity. In the country.

Sayed Hamid Kalantari added: "Products can be exported in a competitive and market-friendly way, and this can be done with efficiency." He continued: Instead of exporting Iranian stone to Italy where it is processed and polished and exported with its own brand, it should establish and strengthen the Iranian brand in this field by forming strong export cooperatives with stone processing. Increased product value added.

He said the technical know-how of product processing is there and cooperatives should boost exports by boosting productivity, reputation and specialty and creating added value.

"Branding is one of the needs of the manufacturing sector, and cooperatives can build a cohesive network and think about competitive production with a single brand," he said.

He said: The weakness in market development and the development of single brand production is a problem that needs to be repaired in the cooperative sector and at present the cooperatives are not well packaged, do not showcase and showcase their products, even though they are of good quality. , Less known in the market.

The Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare seeks to increase the share of cooperatives in the global economy and markets and is working to resolve the cooperatives' problems in marketing their products, the Kalantari said.

Deputy Minister of Cooperatives Affairs, Ministry of Labor and Welfare said that the cooperative's high capacity in export, production and employment should be used. He emphasized on promoting productivity in cooperatives, adding that by improving productivity and added value of production, costs would be reduced and quality and performance would increase.

A senior expert at the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Commerce at the 9th Mahalat Stone Fair also stressed that there are more than 6,000 units of stone processing in the country, many of which do not meet world standards and are no longer in compliance with international standards. They are not considered as entities.

Mohsen Glijani added that the amount of cut stone last year was 700,000 tons and the import of decorative stone was 50,000 tons.

He added: Eighty million square meters of rock was processed in the country last year, which showed that exports against production were very low.

The chief expert said the goal of boosting and boosting the income of the Iranian stone industry in forming a consortium and integrating quality economic entities into production and export was targeted.

According to the report, Glijani added: "Effective thinking and implementation strategies for removing export barriers, revising import tariffs to encourage domestic producers to export, investing in product quality and sustaining production are needed to be present in global markets."

He said that creating export incentives is one of the practical steps to be taken and said that these incentives could be in the form of freight allowances, especially by sea, and in connection with the reduction in facility rates.

He said that the country's stone policy council, which is composed of the head of the mining house, the head of trade development and representatives of the country's stone quarrying centers, to summarize and weaken the strengths and weaknesses of this important industry by observing matters Provided workshops.

The head of the Iranian Stone Association said crude sales in the pest stone industry are serious and should be boosted by boosting the product processing chain, revenues from this segment in the domestic and foreign markets.

Abolghasem Shafi'i added: Support in the stone industry should be such as to reduce production costs and provide a platform for competitive production.

He said: "What makes the stone crude is that the high cost of production has taken away the ability to compete in the market and world trade from the producer." Shafiei said: high wages for workers, insurance costs, transportation, high machinery tax lead to high production costs, and the craftsman prefers to sell the stone raw.

The head of the Iranian Stone Association said: "Opportunities are needed for the development of Iranian stone exports and given the quality of the products in this area, the focus on exports should be strengthened."

A senior adviser to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce also believes that having two industrial poles and three ornamental stone industrial towns and the existence of a hundred stone carving warehouses are among the advantages of Mahallat city.

Aziz Mirzaiian added: Ninety-five percent of the jobs in Mahallat are related to the stone industry, and this advantage in job creation and wealth production should be expanded.

He said: There are about three hundred active stone mines in the region and this shows the ability of the city to decorate the neighborhood.

He said: The biggest problem facing the growth and development of the country's stone industry is the lack of investment security in this sector, which has been caused by conflicting laws, negligence and local disturbances.

He added that reforming the tax law, financing, up-to-date machinery and equipment, and reforming the VAT law, investment and customs barriers are needed by the sector in export development.

The senior advisor to the Iranian Chamber of Commerce noted that the private sector should take steps to promote technical knowledge towards the development of the country's stone industry and export development by establishing a comprehensive organization of stone activists, formulating appropriate implementation plans, and continuing communication with the country's engineering system. .

Mirzaiian emphasized: maximizing the expertise and expertise of the stone industry is one of the issues that should be valued. He said: Optimal and continuous cooperation with the Investment Insurance Fund to provide machinery and export development and create sympathy and cooperation of professional organizations of stone activists in the form of a comprehensive organization of other proposed solutions in terms of the organization of pervasive complications and threats in The mining and processing sector is rock.

Officials, experts and economic and trade officials believe that completing the Iranian stone production and export chain requires a targeted roadmap and support of the relevant sectors and should be achieved with the best opportunity. They say advantages such as stone are the driving force behind the development of subordinate branches, and all efforts must be made to reproduce the processing industry to speak in the context of global competition.

The city of Arak's stone-pole-producing districts is some five hundred kilometers from Arak and has a population of fifty thousand.

* IRNA