Iran: a growing market for processing and packaging technology
23.12.2014
IPACK-IMA will have its own stand at Iran Pack & Print Machinery 2014, one of the most important trade exhibitions in the entire Middle Eastern region for the printing and packaging industry. This event, the 2013 edition of which saw a 120% increase in visitors from neighbouring countries, offers exhibitors privileged access to an extremely interesting market with great prospects for the future.
The Ipack-Ima/Centrexpo group has enjoyed positive relations with Iran since the previous edition of Iran Pack & Print; its presence at this year’s edition of the exhibition aims to open up new business channels and to double the size of the Iranian delegation at the forthcoming edition of IPACK-IMA, following the already substantial presence at the 2012 show.
The Iranian food technology market is perceived to be the most important by international investors interested in the Middle East, with Iran being the second largest economy in the MENA (Middle East and Nord Africa) region. More specifically, there has been a constant increase in demand for packaging technology within Iran, resulting from the substantial rise in the consumption of foodstuffs, a consequence of the country’s increasingly youthful population (60% of Iranians are aged between 5 and 30).
The considerable interest in Iran is substantiated by the figures: in 2013, the country imported food processing machinery and packaging equipment worth a total of $ 191.1 million (source: VDMA – The German Engineering Association), with Germany, Italy, China, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands the principal suppliers of such equipment and machinery. There are just over 12,000 firms in Iran’s food industry (source: Iranian Food Industry Organizations Assembly), accounting for 12% of all manufacturing businesses; these firms employ more than 328,000 workers, that is, 16.1% of Iran’s entire industrial labour force, and represent $ 7.7 billion of investment, that is, approximately 18% of total investment in Iranian industry.
The main requirements of the Iranian food processing and packaging market regard technologies that further the automation of production lines, systems for the monitoring and control of production and productive processes, and a greater focus on health and hygiene controls.
