Corporate News & Business

 

South Korea and Turkey to build ME’s largest power plant in Iran (Mehr News Agency, 18 March 2017)

South Korea and Turkey have joined hands to construct Iran’s largest privately developed power plants within a multi-billion-dollar project. South Korea Engineering & Construction (SK E&C) has teamed up with Turkey’s energy giant UNIT International SA to build and operate new power plants in Iran. Under the deal, the South Korean firm will join the Turkish firm’s ongoing project to build and operate five new gas-fired power plants in Iran, said to be worth US$ 4.2 billion in total. The power stations are set to have a combined generation capacity of 5,000 megawatts, making them largest privately developed power plants in the Middle East.

Iran’s carpet exports grow by 27%, hits $321m in 11 months (Tehran Times, 18 March 2017)

Iran exported US$ 321 million-worth of handmade carpets in the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2016-February 2017), an increase of 27% year on year, said Head of Iran’s National Carpet Center on 18 March 2017. Exports to the United States amounted to $80 million during the 11-month period. The U.S. imposed a ban on carpet imports from the Islamic Republic, among other products, in September 2010. It was Iran’s major market for Persian rugs and the sanctions caused total carpet exports to drop by 30%. With the sanctions removed in January 2016, the industry has been enjoying a boom and sales to America have increased.

 

Iran makes first Thai rice buy in 10 years (Bangkok Post, 17 March 2017)

Iran purchased about 40,000 tons of rice from Thailand in an international tender this week, a deal which traders say shows Iran’s purchasing is returning to more normal patterns now that sanctions have been lifted. Thai authorities announced in late January 2017 that they had secured a deal to sell rice to Iran for the first time in 10 years, with delivery of 50,000 to 100,000 tons of white rice due over the next one to two months. About 300,000 tons in shipments would be made in total. The Iranian state grains buyer GTC bought Hom Mali grade A rice from Thailand at about €600 (US$645) a ton, they said. Prices had been sought in euros in the tender that closed on 14 March 2017.

Sabalan’s agate potentials untapped (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

A mine situated on the outskirts of Mount Sabalan in Ardebil Province holds the largest agate reserve in the world. The agate found in this mine is unique in terms of quality and size in that it is found in massive piles, the largest of which weighs 50 tons. Currently, 11,000 tons of agate in Sabalan are ready to be extracted, used or exported. Iran can greatly benefit from investing in extraction and polishing sectors, as these can help capitalise the real value of the agate reserve in the global markets.

Asiatech to go public in May 2017 (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

Asiatech Data Transfer Inc PLC will be listed in Tehran Stock Exchange in May 2017 said Director General Mr. Mohammad Ali Yousefizadeh. The $7.9 million Asiatech offers services in 430 cities across the country. Last Iranian year (March 2015-March 2016), Asiatech delivered 1.3 million ports to close to one million subscribers. The plan for next year is to expand services in metropolises and set up high-speed Internet access in crowded areas.

 

 

Finance

 

323 public firms up for privatization next year (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

The remaining 323 companiesout of 1,713 enterprises on the privatization list will be ceded in the new Iranian year (21 March 2017-20 March 2018), Head of Iran’s Privatization Organisation Mr. Mir Ali Ashraf Abdollah Pouri-Hosseini said. Earlier this month, Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance Mr. Ali Tayyebnia blamed the stiff resistance mounted by provincial officials and some parliamentarians to privatisation. A motion to impeach the minister in the parliament failed after a majority of lawmakers pursuing the impeachment withdrew their bid on 6 December 2017. Mr. Tayyebnia said rent-seeking, astronomical executive salaries and cronyism were examples of corruption in state-run companies. Stressing that privatization will improve business environment, MP Mr. Mohammad Feizi said privatization is meaningless in the absence of ownership transfer.

 

Foreign assets of banks up 6% (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

Data released by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) for the month ending 19 January 12017 put banks’ total foreign assets at US$ 61.5 billion, a 6% growth compared with the same period last year. Private banks and non-bank credit institutions account for the biggest share of financial institutions’ foreign assets at US$ 40 billion. These institutions owned 62.83% of the total figure, showing a slight growth of 1.7% compared with the previous year’s figures. The Iranian private sector’s deposits in banks and non-bank financial institutions reached US$ 310 billion by 19 January 2017, marking a 26.6% growth year-on-year.

 

 

Oil & Gas

 

Total looks to US permit to start Iran plans (Press TV, 18 March 2017)

France’s energy giant Total is soliciting permission from US authorities to implement a slew of projects worth several billion dollars in Iran. The biggest of all is Iran’s plans to develop phase 11 of the giant South Pars gas field with US$ 4 billion of investment, in which Total seeks a 50% stake. The company inked a preliminary agreement with Iran last year, but it is looking to Washington for authorization to finalise it. Total became the first Western oil major to sign an energy agreement with Iran after the European Union and the United States undertook to lift sanctions on Iran in January 2016. Total resumed trading with Iran in February 2016, and bought about 50 million barrels of crude for about US$ 1.9 billion last year, on top of 11 million barrels of petroleum products worth US $394 million. The company says it is interested in more Iranian projects other than South Pars, including an LNG plant which is half complete as well as a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas pipeline between Iran and Oman. In a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on 17 March 2017, Total outlined its plans, including its operation of South Pars’ phase 11 with a 50.1% stake. China’s CNPC is about to own 30% through one of its subsidiaries and Iran’s Petropars would have 19.9%. They are expected to operate the project with a production capacity of 370,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Iran to raise oil exports to Europe by 60% within two months (Tehran Times, 18 March 2017)

National Iranian Oil Company Managing Director Mr. Ali Kardor said on 18 March 2017 that Iran will increase oil exports to Europe by 60% by the next two months, explaining that currently, oil exports to Europe stands at 500 thousand barrels per day and the NIOC is planning to raise it to 800 thousand barrels per day by the next two months. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that Iran will expand its oil production capacity by 400,000 bpd to reach 4.15 million bpd in 2022.

International

 

Switzerland approves trade agreement with Iran (tio.ch, 16 March 2017)

After the Council of States, Switzerland’s National Assembly adopted the trade agreement between Switzerland and Iran. The also took note of the report of the external economic policy in 2016, according to which Swiss companies must be able to continue to enjoy unfettered access to foreign markets, even if the situation in some of these countries is complex. The federal decree authorising the federal government to develop its economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran was passed with 151 votes for, 1 against and 35 abstentions.

 

 

Economy & Society

 

Iran pilgrims to join this year’s Hajj: Saudi Arabia (Al-Jazeera, 18 March 2017)

Iranian pilgrims will participate in this year’s annual Hajj, Saudi Arabia has said, after an absence last year during tensions between the regional rivals. On 17 March 2017, the official Saudi Press Agency said that the ministry of hajj and the Iranian organisation have completed all the necessary measures to ensure Iranian pilgrims perform Hajj 1438 according to the procedures followed by all Muslim countries. For the first time in nearly three decades, Iran’s pilgrims – which would have numbered about 60,000 – did not attend the Hajj in 2016 after the two countries failed to agree on security and logistics.

Iran’s ‘exemplary’ refugee resettlement efforts praised by UN (The Independent, 16 March 2017)

Iran is a country from which the US could learn a lot on the resettlement of refugees, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Tehran Mr. Sivanka Dhanapala has said. The Soviet War in Afghanistan displaced six million people to neighbouring Iran and Pakistan in 1979. Almost four decades later, the Tehran government still shelters around one million registered Afghans, and up to two million are thought to also be living in the country – making Iran home to the world’s fourth largest refugee population. While Afghans resident in Iran – especially those who are undocumented – are often marginalised to the fringes of society as poorly paid manual workers, and are not allowed to apply for citizenship, the Tehran government has also recently taken positive steps such as ordering schools to take in all Afghan children, and embarked on a health insurance scheme that covers refugees. The UN is fostering hopes that the country will ease work permit restrictions and register more undocumented Afghans in the future.

Workers’ minimum wage to rise by 14.5% (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

The Supreme Labour Council agreed to raise workers’ minimum wage for the next fiscal year (March 2017-18) by 14.5% to 9.3 million rials ($244.7) per month. The council also agreed to raise other wage levels by 12%, increasing it by 6,768 rials ($1.78) per day till the yearend. Workers’ representatives were seeking a 30% growth, while government officials put their foot down on a maximum of 10% but they reached a compromise.

Tehran municipality incentivising electric motorbike purchase (Financial Tribune, 16 March 2017)

In line with Tehran municipality’s plans to reduce air pollution, the city council is offering grants to people wanting to buy electric motorbikes. According to the Transportation and Traffic Deputy of Tehran Municipality Mr. Maziar Hosseini, those who want to buy an electric motor bike will receive a grant of US$ 675. He called for cutting red tape in receiving registration plates, setting up electric charging stations and increasing loans.

By Natela Outtier

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