“Some 510,000 warehouses have so far been identified, which account for 90% of all warehouses in the country. The Industries, Mining and Trade Organization of all provinces are required to inform warehouses that as of the abovementioned date, they need to make a record of their stocked goods as well as their incoming and outgoing shipments based on waybills on the website so officials can monitor the transactions and depots of goods,” Mohammad Qebleh was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Warehouse owners, who have not yet registered at www.nwms.ir, must do so before Aug. 23, he added.
The move is part of efforts by a taskforce named “Intensified Fight Against Hoarding and Stashing”, which was newly founded on the order of Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari last month, according to Financial Tribune.
A few days later, the minister unveiled a list of goods to be targeted by the new taskforce. It includes a wide range of products, namely wheat, barley, rice, field corn, soy meal, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable oil, sugar, butter, red meat, chicken, eggs, milk powder, home appliances, freezers, washing machines, TVs, spare parts, rubber, publication paper, washing powder and construction material.
The items also included a category titled “production raw materials”, but did not offer details.
Since then, officials have called on the public to inform authorities of hoarding and stashing cases.
According to the commander of Tehran’s Law Enforcement Force, goods worth 3.2 trillion rials ($40 million) hoarded in nine warehouses in Tehran Province were confiscated by police in the last week.
“The hoarded commodities include tires, MDF pallets, rice, pulses and other kinds of foodstuff,” Hossein Rahimi was also quoted as saying by ILNA on Saturday.
One such confiscation was related to a stash of shoe raw materials, including glue, soles, heels and shoelaces, hoarded in a warehouse in Tehran’s Kahrizak District in Rey County, which was taken over by ‘Tazirat’ Organization (a judiciary-affiliated oversight entity dealing with trading offenses).
According to a producer, accompanying the inspection officers, the confiscated raw materials were sufficient to produce a year’s supply of shoes for the entire domestic market.
President of Chamber of Guilds Ali Fazeli says withholding products from the market is a punishable offense, attributing the ongoing practices of stashing to market uncertainty and fear of inability to replace goods.
Iran’s market descended into chaos after the value of rial fell drastically over a short period of time following, among other reasons, the US decision to quit the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, and reimpose sanctions on Iran’s economy.