Ceramic Industry Iran: History of Iranian china industry

Ceramic Industry is one of the oldest industries in the world. Due to the abundance of ceramic raw material, namely soil and ease of production, ceramic objects are one of the oldest and most ancient signs of the early man ever found. As far as archeological findings and excavations are considered, Iran is the primary birthplace of this industry. And it was from Iran that the industry expanded to other parts of the globe.

The first ever-excavated ceramic objects belonging to 10 to 12 thousand years ago were explored in Zagros mountain range in Iran. They were made manually using neither a clay wheel nor an oven for baking the clay. The discovered items in Silk Hills in Kashan (belonging to 8,000 year B.C.) and the discovered items in Susa (belonging to 2,700 B.C.) are indicative of the acquaintance and knowledge of their residents with an oven to bake the clay.

During a developing trend Iran's ceramics flourished more to reach a turning point during Safavid's era. Exceptional and marvelous items were created in that era. Decorating historical monuments and buildings inclusive of mosques in Isfahan and other Iranian towns. The production of tiles suffered stagnation after the Safavad's era giving way to imported European china.he industry suffered stagnation even further until 1960. Before then tiles were produced manually. Then Iran tile factory, the first manufacturer of tiles, was inaugurated. This was a turning point.

Later Sa'di, Hafiz and Isfahan factories followed the suit. Later a few china factories were inaugurated to manufacture china- ware and sanitary ware. Unfortunately the activity of all factories was halted after the 1979 Revolution and during the Imposed War. But later during the First and Second Five Year Economic Development Plans (FYEDP) activities were restored and during the Second FYEDP the total production in the industry witnessed a 12.6% increase on the average. During 1999 the production of tiles exceeded 61 million sq. m and ceramics in general 82,000 tons. Over 22,000 workers were working in this industry.

Three outstanding factors are responsible for the flourishing of the prosperous tile manufacturing business in Iran: one is abundance of soil as the raw material; the second is inexpensive energy sources and the third one cheap labor and high unemployment rate (there are plenty job applicants available). The products of this industry are divided into four categories: Tiles, sanitary ware, chinaware and industrial ceramics. The objective of this report is to study such classification.

Wall and floor tiles:

Tile industry is ten thousand years old. Tiles used to be manually produced in small workshops before 1960. Then Irana tile factory was inaugurated. This was a turning point. Later Sa'di, Hafiz and Isfahan factories became operational to boost the production volume of machine made tiles. The above 5 factories were producers of wall tiles before the Revolution.

But Nilu, Yazd, Alborz and Gilan factories were making floor tiles. Establishment of new factories after the Revolution brought their number to 16 units in 1994, with a total capacity of 37.3 million square meters in the same year. As the production volume boosted gradually, the number of production units was brought to 30 in 1999 with an annual capacity of 67.1 million sq. m. 15 units of which were allotted to production of wall tiles with 47.4 million sq. m. capacity, while the remaining 15 units were producers of floor tiles with 19.7 million sq. m. capacity.

Such figures were indicative of 87.5% and 89.8% boost in number and capacity respectively compared to five years earlier. The production volume of tile manufacturers reached 60.9 million sq. m in the year 1999, indicating 8.7% growth compared to a year earlier and 65% growth compared to five years before that. The total number of the staff in the aforementioned production units equaled 14,000 people in that year (with 4,350 sq. m. per capita) and 91% output as the nominal production capacity. Such output fluctuated between 90% and 100% during the said Five Year Plans.

Sanitary ware:
The first manufacturer of sanitary ware products, Pars Ceram, was constructed and opened in 1969 in Qarchak, Varamine. Two other such factories, Mina and Armitaj (Gol-Nama) were later built and inaugurated to launch their production line. Meeting the domestic requirements of such products, prior to that, was totally dependent on imports from Europe. However as the government attached more significance to boosting the domestic production in recent years, a giant step has been taken in this regard.

While enjoying promotion of technology in production, enhancement of quality, diversification and a wide range of varieties in ceramic industry have been witnessed. The production capacity of the aforementioned first three factories totaled 22,000 tons back in 1979. But this figure jumped to 51,000 tons in 1999, indicating a remarkable 232% growth compared to 1979. The number of production units also boosted to 9 indicating 200% increase.

Also in the same year 2,700 workers were employed with a production of 19 tons per capita. In 1999 some 6,136 tons of sanitary ware were exported amounting to $2 million. This figure was indicative of 19% and 12% increase respectively compared to a year before.

Chinaware:
It is evident that the ceramic pots and dishes have been made for ages. The industry of making such items is one of the most ancient ones, as based on the excavated and discovered items we know that since thousands of years ago man has been making them in order to meet her/his needs. Clay pots and objects were made in Iran using argil (red soil or clay) for ages. Not only Iranians made clay pots but also sculptures.

The traditional way of making clay objects is still used in some provinces such as Hamedan and Khorasan. As the machine was introduced in the Iranian china industry four factories namely Kabon, Alborz, Pars China and Air Porcelain (Gilan) launched their production activity with a total annual capacity of 4,780 tons of dishes and pots and other chinaware products before 1979.

Up to the year 1980 about 30,000 tons was the domestic annual demand for above products, 80% of which was met by imports. But during that year, the government banned the import of chinaware and consequently the number of relevant factories was increased. Thirteen production units with an annual nominal capacity of 16,000 tons were active in 1984.

Industrial Ceramics:
Great significance is attached to the industrial ceramics in the advanced ceramics, as industrial ceramics are one of the major requirements of advanced industry. Electricity, metal melting (in steel mills) and the textile industries are great need of the industrial ceramics. The country's demand for industrial ceramics used to be entirely met through imports in the past.

However, the adoption of self- sufficiency policies during the recent years by the government has caused great significance to be attached to domestic production of such items. Thus, three industrial units comprising 658 staff launched the production of this product in 1999 with 8,850 tons yield. This volume not only met the domestic requirements but also paved the way for export of such products. The total value of exported industrial ceramics was merely $200,000 in this year.

Source: Ceramic Industry in Iran

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