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Iran reports decreased car output in December compared to 2018

File photo shows workers at a car factory in Iran.

Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (MIMT) has issued a report showing that car output in the country declined year on year in December by more than a quarter.

The report covered in the official IRNA news agency said the total number of cars produced in Iran between late March and late December 2019, which corresponds to the first nine months of the Iranian calendar year, topped 524,200.

The report said the output was 25.6 percent down compared to the similar nine-month period in 2018.

Other products of the Iranian automotive industry, one of the largest in the Middle East and North Africa region, were also on decline last year except for vans and pick-up trucks whose total production stood at 45,700, an increase of 16.5 percent, said the report.

Major Iranian automakers produced a total of 1,465 buses, minibuses and vans, nearly half the figure recorded for March-December 2018, it said.

The MIMT added that production of trucks, mini trucks and tractor units declined by 63 percent to stand at 3,196 units.  

Harvest machines were down 50.9 percent at 294 while production of tractors rose by 15.7 percent to stand at 13,795 units, it said.

Iran often boasts of its home-grown car industry, especially at a time it is facing tough American sanctions and as the car makers have serious difficulties getting supply of certain spare parts from abroad.

The 50-year-old industry has seen peaks of output at 1.4 million cars a year as several major brands have hit the roads in other countries of the region.

The Iranian government announced earlier this month that it would provide massive loans to save spare parts manufacturers that have suffered as a result of fluctuations in foreign currency prices.


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