Tires at Subsidized Rates for Taxis

EghtesadOnline: With car tire prices rising at a terrible speed, Iran Taxi Union said it will provide taxis with 30,000 tires at subsidized rates.

News ID: ۷۸۴۳۲۸

18 November 2018

ITU’ boss Morteza Zameni says that as per an agreement signed between the ITU and local tire manufactures, the taxi organization will buy 30,000 tires and sell it to taxi drivers at the factory price, the website of Iran Tier Producers Union (irtu.ir) reported.

With prices of almost all goods having multiplied several times over the past eight months, avaricious dealers also jacked up tire prices exorbitantly.

Locally made tires are priced at 5 million rials ($37) in the market while factory prices are mostly less than 3 million rials ($24), Financial Tribune reported.

It merits mention that Iran’s tire industries are also at risk, as manufacturers face a shortage of raw materials which have forced companies to shut down or cut output.

After US President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the rail tanked as never before. To preserve the value of the national currency, the government limited imports by announcing a list of essential goods eligible for subsidized foreign currency.

Raw materials and intermediate goods used by the tire industry are considered by the Rouhani administration as a “Second Priority” and therefore not eligible for priority in the allocation of foreign currency.

According to the head of the Tire Industry Association of Iran Mohammad Reza Taqiganji, most tire factories do not have enough raw materials to continue production for long and very likely will be forced to shut down if things don’t improve.