170 thousand tons of papers have been supplied within the past month

The secretary of the paper organizing working group at Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance reported the supply of 170 thousand tons of paper within the past month from the Central Bank and said, “Over 150 million USD worth of credit has been provided.”

 

In an interview with the cultural reporter of Pouya Club of Journalists, referring to the first meeting of the working group, Homayoun Amirzadeh- the secretary of the paper organizing working group at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance- said, “Yesterday, we held the first meeting of the paper organizing working group chaired by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance which was of course the second official meeting of the working group. The first one was held last month in the presence of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance discussing the issue of paper generally.”

 

He continued, “At yesterday meeting with the presence of elected members including representatives of the press, the representatives of publications, the association of importers of paper and cardboard, the representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, the representative s of the Organization of Supporting Consumer’s Rights, … chaired by Hossien Entezami -the Minister’s representative in the working group- while reviewing the approvals of the country paper working group and the Headquarter of Regulating Market, the condition of existing paper was monitored from the aspect of imports, the amount of registered order, and the quantity of the paper cleared from customs within the first four months of the year.”

 

Amirzadeh said, “The second list of the importers who had received pro-forma invoices in both areas of newsprint and writing and printing paper was checked. Considering the importance of the issue and in order to verify the information provided by applicants, it was decided the requests to be reviewed in terms of price, tonnage and other sets of criteria in the framework of a specialized teamwork, and finally the decision will be made about the importers of the second list in the meeting of the working group which will be held next week.”

 

40 applicants to be inserted in the second list of paper importers approved by the Ministry of Guidance

Stating that 40 people have already applied for the paper imports, he said, “20 people in the field of press and 20 ones in the field of publication have applied to be in the second list of importers approved by Ministry of Guidance. The importers have received pro-forma invoices, i.e. receiving pro-forma is the condition for checking the applicants. The pro-forma invoices indicate the quantity, the price, the manufacturer and the country where the paper is produced.”

 

Obtaining commitment letter from importers was essential

Regarding the approvals of the working group, Amirzadeh said, “Based on the approvals of the working group, the registration of the orders will not be done without obtaining the commitment letter to distribute the imported paper as per the domestic requirements. As a result, all applicants are obliged to complete the commitment form along with the other information in terms of applicant’s profile, conditions and regulations.”

 

The removal of the imported paper ceiling and its coordination with the domestic requirements

The Director General of the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance continued, “Another issue discussed at the meeting was to determine the import ceiling based on the general domestic requirements given the fact that we have problems with the strategic reserves of paper in the country. Before this approval, the importers could only import at the level of their last year’s imports. We removed this ceiling yesterday so that the importers can import as much as the annual requirements of the country, e.g. if someone who imported 1000 tons of paper last year wants to import 3000 tons this year, he or she can import this quantity based on the requirements of the country.”

 

The secretary of the work group of organizing paper said, “With regard to the suitable orders which have been registered, there is no concern for the lack of paper in the country and no concern for the supply of paper required until the end of the year. The process of order registration and the pace of allocating foreign currency to applicants from the Central Bank are promising.”

 

Supplying foreign currency for over 170 thousand tons of paper within the past month

Referring to statistics, he said, “While around 50 million USD was provided for the first three month of this year, the supply of the foreign currency has been increased well in the past month reaching over 150 million USD to meet the currency requirement for the imports of over 170 thousand tons in the past month.”

 

According to Amirzadeh, the measures taken by Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade; the Central Bank; Ministry of Guidance as well as the activists of this sector have been effective. That we are not worried about paper shortage in the field of publication is good news. The Press Deputy has also assured us that all importers have announced their readiness to supply the newsprint required by newspapers even the supply of newsprint for the provinces is on the agenda of Press Deputy of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.