International aluminum prices began to rise early this month, but prices remain unchanged in Iran.

TEHRAN, Feb. 19--National aluminum production capacity is seven times greater than the domestic demand for the product, said an aluminum industry expert here on Sunday.
Saeed Sepehri-Raad said while annual demand for aluminum stands at 120,000 tons, the country has so far created a production capacity for 800,000 tons.
He said one of the major aluminum manufacturing plants, Al-Mahdi, produces 90,000 tons a year, of which 50,000 tons are exported.
“Iralco, another major producer, produces 120,000 tons of aluminum a year,“ he said, adding that the company exports 50,000 tons of its products.
He further noted that the total aluminum output stands at 240,000 tons a year, half of which is exported.
The expert said that world aluminum prices stand at $2,500 a ton while in Iran this figure remains below $2,000. “International aluminum prices began to rise early this month, but prices remain unchanged in Iran,“ he said.
Iran’s aluminum industry is one of the largest in the region.
National aluminum industry has also been developing international interactions over the past few years by participating in aluminum projects in other countries.
Iranian companies put into operation an aluminum factory in eastern Ethiopia late last year, making the African country self-sufficient in the product.
The factory’s production capacity is currently 1,500 tons. This figure is expected to double by the end of 2006. Materials and equipment needed to make the aluminum factory operational come from Iran.
According to Ethiopian sources, the partnership will enable Ethiopia to compete both in the domestic and global markets by providing new technology that Ethiopia can take advantage of. The Ethio-Iran Aluminum Factory was established in 2003 with an initial capital investment of $25 million in Sululta, some 25 kilometers from the capital, Addis Ababa.

ARAK, Markazi,
Feb. 19-- Deputy oil minister said here Saturday the country’s refining capacity is slated to increase to 900,000 barrels daily within the next five years.
Speaking during a visit to Arak Oil Refinery Facilities, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, who is also the head of National Iranian Oil Products Refining and Distribution Company, pointed out that like any other industrial units, refineries also have an economic lifespan.
“Modernization and renovation of some of the older refineries is on the Oil Ministry’s agenda,“ he added.
Abadan Refinery, which is 90 years old, is the oldest in the country.
The complex is undergoing partial modernization and repair, the deputy oil minister added.
He declared that Arak Refinery will be upgraded to refine heavy fuel to light and aircraft fuels.
Nematzadeh said the cost of production, maintenance of transmission and distribution lines for oil derivatives cost approximately 16 billion rials annually.
Responding to a question about oil policies in case of possible sanctions, he added, “We experienced difficult times during the Iraqi-imposed war (1989-1988) and are able to operate refineries, and oil facilities and meet the needs of the country under any circumstances.“
He noted, “Although sanctions will entail hard times, but we are not concerned and there will be no problems.“
Nematzadeh said the plan is to build these new refineries with gas condensate or heavy crude as feedstock.
He said that the exact location of refiners have not yet been determined, but will be announced in the near future.
A major problem facing the company is the growing energy consumption, particularly gasoline, he said.
The official also expressed approval of the proposed plan for dual-rate system for gasoline starting next year (March 21).
He said the plan should be effective in preventing further rise in gasoline consumption in future.
If current consumption trend continues, gasoline import bill will reach $4-4.5 billion by March.
Gasoline budget shortfall for the first half of the current year stood around $900 million.
The total refining capacity is 40 million liters daily whereas gasoline consumption is estimated to exceed 64.5 million liters daily this year. “Hence, we have to import 24.5 million liters daily,“ he added.
Optimizing gasoline consumption is the most effective solution to check this consumption trend, he concluded.

TEHRAN, Feb. 19--Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Mohammad Soleimani said here on Sunday that once the national Internet is created, domestic users will be able to receive web services at far lower costs.
The official told ISNA that the national network will also help enhance web security for Iranian users and remove their privacy concerns about emails and other information.
“The issue is also important from the economic point of view,“ he said, adding that the country will not need to pay extra costs for leasing Internet bands.
He said the ICT Ministry believes that Internet costs must come down drastically.
The minister further said the national Internet will be able to operate in Persian language, which will have a positive cultural impact on users.
Soleimani said the project will require huge funds, stressing, however, that it is possible to launch the project at a cost of a few hundred billion rials.
IT experts say progress in information technology sector is contingent upon joint ventures with foreign parties.
Successful countries such as India, United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Singapore have managed to benefit from joint ventures in the IT sector.
IT is the powerhouse for development, say experts, adding that information technology is currently employed by more than 80 percent of the global industries.
Several IT parks have been planned nationwide to provide high-quality and inexpensive IT services to users.
While at the beginning of the Third Five-Year Plan (2000-2005), the number of Internet users was only around 200,000, this figure currently exceeds six million.

DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 19ÑIran-Syrian Economic Cooperation Commission meeting began here Sunday.
According to IRNA, the Iran’s Housing and Urban Development Minister Mohammad Saeedi-kia and Syrian Minister of Economy and Commerce Hamer Hassani Lotfi will co-chair the meetings.
Saeedi-kia, heading a delegation of officials from various ministries arrived in Damascus Friday night.
He also traveled to the port city of Banyas, 250 kms northwest of Damascus, on Saturday to inspect the progress of Iranian contractors working in various projects in the city.
Iranian firms are carrying out projects including modernization of the local electricity power plant and refinery.
Speaking to reporters, Saeedi-kia said the two nations will discuss and draw up agreements on cultural, agricultural, environmental, standards, and industrial fields.
The agreements will be signed by Iran’s first vice president and the Syrian prime minister at the two nations’ supreme committee meeting.
The committee’s session are held once or twice a year in either Tehran or Damascus. The last session convened in Tehran last February.
Saeedi-kia said that he will visit more projects by Iranian contractors during his stay in Syria.
The Syrian economy minister also voiced his country’s resolve to strengthen economic and trade cooperation as well as boost political ties.
Iran’s main exports to Syria, which are engineering and technical services, reached $750 million and trade transactions stood at $110 million in the year to March 2005, he added.
Iran is implementing a number of economic projects worth about $700 million in Syria. Reconstruction of Banyas power plant, construction of ’Samand’ auto manufacturing factory, a cement factory in Hama and 10 grain silos are among the major economic projects, he added.
Iran-Syria economic cooperation is slated to increase to three billion dollars in the next few years.

L90 will help increase the car purchasing power of average Iranians as it will be offered at a relatively low price.

TEHRAN, Feb. 19--France’s giant carmaker Renault has reportedly accepted the Iranian Parliament’s condition that some 70 percent of the components for L90 cars must be manufactured in Iran. The budget sedans will be produced in Iran in partnership with the French company.
Seyyed Qobad Mortazavi, who heads the Majlis Industries and Mines Commission’s committee for overseeing foreign contracts, told Moj news agency that the L90 will be marketed domestically from mid-2006, stressing that all ambiguities relating to the contract have now been overcome.
The lawmaker further noted that the L90 will help increase the car purchasing power of average Iranians as it will be offered at a relatively low price.
Mortazavi further noted that the Ministry of Industries and Mines will be in charge of setting the price of the car, adding that domestic production of the L90 will help create greater competition in Iran’s demanding auto market.
He said the Majlis Probe Committee will soon complete its investigation into the price, technical issues and peripheral costs of the multibillion-euro project.
It was announced earlier that Renault has agreed in principle with the changes demanded by the new Iranian government and the Seventh Parliament to be made in the agreement on production of L90 budget cars in Iran.
The huge joint venture with Renault to produce L90 budget cars in Iran is now lagging behind schedule in view of political developments since the presidential election of June 24, 2005.
Some experts say Iran might not be able to begin production in 2006.
“If L90 were to enter the market as of 2006, the relevant part manufacturing contracts should have been finalized by now,“ said a member of the Association of Iranian Auto Part Manufacturers, Abolqasem Azmand.
He said L90m production has now started in Romania and India.
Renault, which is involved in the huge joint venture with major Iranian carmakers Iran Khodro and Saipa, has reportedly encouraged European auto part makers such as Valeo to cooperate with Iranian firms.
Andreas Gabriel, managing director of Renault Pars Company, said in December that Iran will begin production of the latest model of the popular Renault Megane in 2006.
He said the project will be launched in April, adding that the old version of the car was one of the best selling cars in Europe.
It remains to be seen when the protracted project will become operational.

The implementation of major tourist projects in sea resorts of the northern and southern regions is indicative of the industry’s resolve to develop sea tourism.
The construction of Bandar Torkaman Tourism Village and Ashouradeh Island in the northeastern parts of the country as well as the nationwide project to expand facilities in the coastal areas are some of the most important sea tourism schemes in Iran.
For this purpose, private sector investments are also being encouraged in tourism industry projects.
Mahmoud Mousavi, the Ashouradeh Island project manager, told Iran Daily that sea tourism development is a high priority on the country’s tourism industry agenda.
He said that the first phase of the project has been launched in cooperation with a foreign company, adding that tourism officials will employ all the historical, cultural and natural capacities to upgrade this profitable industry.
The official said the Comprehensive Bandar Torkaman Tourism Village Scheme has been drawn up by consultant engineers from Germany, adding that the scheme also covers the Ashouradeh project.
“Asouradeh is Iran’s only Caspian Sea island,“ he said, adding that Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization has selected the island as an exemplary sea tourism region.
Kourosh Mojtavi, who is the official in charge of developing sea tourism, told Iran Daily that 1,690 European tourists visit tourist spots in Iran’s coastal areas every three months, stressing that the number will certainly rise significantly once the necessary infrastructure for developing the industry is created.
“Traditional yachting brings many Europeans to Iran each year,“ he said, adding that each sea tourist earns the country some $1,000.
“However Iran’s revenues from sea tourism remains too meager compared to those earned by regional countries,“ he concluded.

Iran has exported $30 million worth of flowers since March 2005.

TEHRAN, Feb. 19--Revenues from flower exports will increase from the current $30 million to half a billion dollars per annum once the country’s first flora terminal becomes operational in the Ahmadabad Mostofi area, near Tehran, said a flower industry official here on Sunday.
Seyyed Jalal Ajayebi, who heads the board of directors of Iran Flowers and Plants Association, told ISNA that Iran has exported $30 million worth of flowers since March 2005, adding that some two million stalks of flower are cut nationwide per day.
The official said some 500,000 ornamental bushes are grown in Iran each year, stressing that once the flower terminal is created, exports will rise sharply.
He said the terminal project has progressed by 60 percent now, adding that private companies have invested 100 billion rials in the groundbreaking project.
He said the world flower industry transactions have reached $100 billion a year, of which Iran does not even have a one percent share yet.
Area under flower cultivation in Iran constitutes 2.1 percent of the world total, whereas the country’s share in the international business remains meager.
Improper transportation facilities have hindered export of flowers, say experts.
Flower production costs are high in Iran, which exports cut flowers mostly to Persian Gulf littoral states and the former Soviet republics. Iran also exports small amounts of cut flowers to France and Germany.
Demand for cut flowers has also decreased domestically as prices soared following an increase in prices of fertilizers and pesticides.
Some 10 millions stalks of flowers were exported to Russia, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan as well as the Netherlands and the Persian Gulf littoral states in the year to March 2005.
Some 900 million stalks of flowers were produced in the same period.