The interactional meeting of the Association of Carton and Sheet Executives and Iran Syndicate of Paper and Cardboard Producers

In the meeting, the issues and problems of paper making and carton manufacturing companies were discussed in a friendly meeting, and at the end of the meeting an expert team from of the Association of Carton and Sheet Executives and an expert team from Iran Syndicate of Paper and Cardboard Producers were supposed to work on the issues for a week in order that their account would be discussed next week.

It should be noted that for years the paper manufacturers have believed that the government should support the industry by increasing tariffs on paper imports while the consumers have always believed that the quality of the domestic paper has been problematic, the government has caused a monopoly to be created by raising tariffs which will lead to consumers' damage. The truth is that the production of paper with desirable quality does not require an increase in tariffs, and at present at least in packaging industry neither merchants nor factories are willing to import packaging paper, as no fluting paper has been imported for years and all the requirement of the country is supplied by domestic manufacturers.

 On the other hand, the paper manufacturers believe that we face severe increase of waste paper price due to its shortage. As a result, the cost price of domestic paper will not be competitive with the foreign competitors who are trying not to lose their share on Iran market. Therefore, the government should increase the customs tariff of this kind of paper to protect domestic industries.

By the way, the results of the experts' study on this issue will be clear next week.