Ali-Asghar Ahaniha, a representative of employers in Iran’s Supreme Labor Council, stated that “50 percent capacity” of industrial parks in Iran has ceased operations due to recurring power outages.
These comments come following persistent power outages in some industrial units caused by energy shortages in Iran and increased electricity and gas consumption during the cold weather.
On Saturday, December 28, Ahaniha told the state-run Tasnim News Agency that the power cuts contradict the “Business Environment Improvement Act,” stating, “We faced electricity problems in the summer, and now in winter, we have issues with both electricity and gas.”
Ahaniha added that whenever the government cuts power to private and cooperative companies due to temporary shortages, it is obligated to determine and announce how to “compensate for the damages incurred” by these companies.
The industrial power outages are occurring despite Article 25 of the Continuous Business Environment Improvement Act, which states: “According to this law, during shortages of electricity, gas, or telecommunications services, industrial and agricultural production units should not be prioritized for cuts in electricity, gas, or telecommunications.”
Simultaneously with the winter restrictions on energy resources such as electricity and gas for industries, managers from various sectors report reduced production and the consequences of power outages at production units, including steel and cement.
Iran’s steel production, which usually saw growth, experienced a 5.1 percent decline between March and October.
Last week, the Majlis (parliament) Research Center reported that the economic growth of Iran’s industrial sector has sharply declined since 2023, and this trend intensified in the second and third quarters of 2024, heading toward “zero.”
On December 21, the head of the Syndicate of Pharmaceutical, Chemical, and Packaging Material Producers stated that power is cut in the country’s industrial parks every other day for “17 hours each time,” with pharmaceutical companies do not exempt from these outages.
Faramarz Ekhtiarai assessed the challenges of securing electricity and gas for pharmaceutical industries as leading to an “increase in the final cost of medicine” and stated, “If government officials do not address the industry’s issues, they will have to say goodbye to it, and this situation will push companies to close one after another.”
Mahmoud Najafi-Arab, head of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, also reported on July 13 about power cuts in pharmaceutical factories due to electricity shortages.
Production indices in publicly traded companies have also declined in recent months, reportedly due to recurring power and gas outages. The industrial production index for publicly traded companies decreased by 3 percent in November 2024 compared to the same period last year, with three-month growth leading up to November also reaching negative 2.7 percent.
Meanwhile, warnings have been issued about the potential dismissal of workers from production units due to recurring power outages.
