Importing over 130 thousand tons to the country/ Iran’s fifth ranking in the printing industry in the Middle East

According to Fars News Agency of Mashhad, Mohammad Reza Barazesh attending in the auditorium of Qods Cultural Institute for the Congress of National Printing Industry on Thursday night, pointed out that as per the existing statistics, the turnover of printing industry in the world is 700 billion USD and stated, “The current turnover of the domestic printing industry of books is 5% and the turnover of the industry in press is 12%.”

Emphasizing that Iran’s ranking in printing industry is supposed to be the first in the Middle East in 2025. He stated, “Unfortunately, Iran is currently ranked the fifth in this section which is not desirable.”

The director general of the Press Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance announced the import of over 130 thousand tons of paper to the country and said, “This quantity of paper was imported in order to regulate the market.” 

Referring to printing 150 million books and the consumption of between 1.5 to 2 million tons of paper last year, Barazesh added, “Last year in addition to the consumption of 50 thousand tons of paper required to print textbooks, paper was needed to print newspapers and other sections.”

He pointed to the increase in running costs and wages at the printing houses coinciding the decrease in the quantity of printed newspapers and books in the country and continued, “Unfortunately, in addition to the reduction of income in ratio with the increased costs of printing houses, the domestic printing industry is facing the problem of inconsistency between the policy of governmental organizations and this industry’s requirements.”

The director general of the Press Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance reminded, “Although Khorasan province is considered to be the food hub in the country, the printing industry on metal there was in such a condition that the province was forced to import packaging prints on metal because the equipment in printing industries does not meet province existing capacities. Thus, the shortcomings should be removed and the requirements of printing industry in Khorasan have to be identified.”

Emphasizing the necessity of establishing an exact statistics center in the field of printing industry, Barazesh said, “Printing industry has already changed. If an exact statistics center in the field of printing industry exists, we can evaluate the profit of the investments in this type of industries.”