The 11th Iran-Nevesht: a story of production growth and changing tastes

Namafar’s conversation with actors in Iran’s stationery field on the sidelines of Iran-Nevesht 1404 (2025/26)

Iran-Nevesht 1404 (2025/26), as the country’s largest cultural and economic event in the stationery field, was held with a broad presence of producers, cultural actors, families, and students. This exhibition is not only a venue for offering the latest domestic products, but is also an opportunity to become familiar with the capacities of Iran’s stationery industry and for direct dialogue between producers and consumers.

On the sidelines of this event, we sat down to talk with three actors in this field: Mehdi Kalantari (secretary of the 11th Iran-Nevesht exhibition), Mohammad Jafar Kebriaei (producer and distributor of Iranian and Islamic stationery), and Alireza Golmakani (manager of the Avat group, a subsidiary of the long-standing “Arya” brand).

Growth of domestic production and a change in people’s buying behavior

Mehdi Kalantari, the exhibition secretary, described the state of the market as follows:

“The Iranian stationery market has grown markedly in recent years, and the share of domestic products has risen from about 15 to 20 percent to more than 60 percent. In the characters field as well, the share of Iranian content has increased from one to two percent to 20 percent. In products such as ballpoint pens, pencils, bags, and notebooks we have almost reached self-sufficiency and can supply 100 percent of market demand; there is even export capability.”

According to him, although the market has reached self-sufficiency in many products, limitations still exist:

“Some particular or novelty products that do not have economic justification or a high print run are still not produced in the country. But any product that is cost-effective and high-consumption is today made domestically. Many products that were previously imported are now produced by those same importers.”

Kalantari went on to describe the economy of this field as “valuable but different” and said:

“The stationery market is economic, but it is not comparable with industries such as construction. It has lower profit, because its turnover happens only once a year; even so, it is an attractive and valuable market.”

According to him, this year’s exhibition space has doubled compared with previous years, and the diversity of production and booths has also increased. Despite this, “because of economic problems, people’s volume of purchases has not gone up. More families come to the exhibition, but their shopping basket is smaller, and in some cases they split purchases across several time periods.”

Notebooks and paper products have had the highest sales at the exhibition. Kalantari explained:

“For children we use hero characters, and for adults we use cultural elements such as tilework or our country’s historical works. The producers’ main goal in attending the exhibition is also a direct meeting with consumers, because they obtain most of their profit from the market.”

Regarding the growth of the Iranian and Islamic stationery market, he emphasized three essential conditions:

“To compete, first an intellectual property law must be passed. Second, we must invest in infrastructure such as paper production and equipment. Third, distribution networks commensurate with the change in people’s behavior must be created. Today families are more inclined toward large, diverse stores. If these three issues are resolved, public uptake will increase several times over.”

Taste-making and uptake of Iranian content

Mohammad Jafar Kebriaei, producer and distributor of Iranian and Islamic stationery under the “Porsam” and “Avaye Mehr” brands, assessed market developments as follows:

“The Iranian stationery market is growing strongly. In the past people were more inclined toward foreign goods, but over the past ten years the media have come on board and people’s behavior has changed. Today families want Iranian goods; goods that, both in industrial quality and in content, are compatible with our own civilization, not the West.”

Referring to recent economic conditions, he said:

“After the 12-day Sacred Defense, all markets suffered a drop. Even so, people’s uptake of Iranian stationery has remained stable, although the shopping basket has become smaller.”

Kebriaei explained product design as follows:

“We design for two main groups: children, and adolescents-young people. For the adolescent and young group, pastel and novelty colors are popular, and for children, diverse and colorful hues. Uptake of Iranian goods shows that taste-making has taken place. There was a time when everyone was after Batman and Superman, but today notebooks with the image of Martyr Hajizadeh are well received.”

He also emphasized that knowledge of audiences must be more precise:

“We face a diverse range of audiences and must think of all of them. Even among religious audiences, the level of economic welfare is influential. I feel that in designs we have paid less attention to well-off audiences, whereas we also need special designs for this stratum.”

On exports as well, he described his experiences as follows:

“We have exported to Afghanistan and Iraq. In my view Afghanistan is an unmatched opportunity for exports. This autumn we will also take part in two exhibitions in these two countries.”

Kebriaei ended by emphasizing the role of small businesses:

“Micro businesses can be a driver of the national economy, but unfortunately in our country they have no custodian. We ourselves have stood on our value-centered point, namely design and sales, and we outsource production.”

The challenge of illegal imports and the importance of packaging

Continuing the conversations, Alireza Golmakani, manager of the Avat group (a subsidiary of the long-standing Arya brand), pointed to this brand’s long experience and said:

“Arya has more than sixty years of history, and more than a thousand people work directly in our group.”

He regarded illegal imports as one of the producers’ main problems:

“Production in the country faces various challenges. Illegal imports disrupt price proportions and confuse producers, as a result of which some goods become expensive or scarce. Legal imports do not create a problem, because the ability to compete exists; but illegal imports in high volume are truly problematic.”

Despite these challenges, he assessed people’s uptake of this year’s exhibition as striking:

“The increase in people’s presence compared with previous years shows growing attention to national production and Iranian characters. Designs and images have also been upgraded relative to the past. Even so, the influence of foreign cartoons is still high, and we must work more so that our products become more aligned with children’s taste.”

He went on to point to his group’s strength:

“One of our strengths is appropriate design and packaging. The global stationery market is in China’s hands, which, despite the low quality of their products, have very good packaging. If the government provides support in areas such as the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, customs, and financing, we too can play a role in international markets.”

Final word

What emerges from conversations with stationery industry actors at Iran-Nevesht 1404 (2025/26) is a clear picture of a market on a path of growth and maturity. The share of domestic production has grown considerably, Iranian content has found a more serious place, and public uptake of domestic goods has increased. Even so, challenges such as a shortage of production infrastructure, illegal imports, and the need for investment in design, distribution, and packaging remain in place.

This year’s exhibition showed that stationery is not merely a simple consumer good; it is a cultural and economic arena that can affect the taste of the next generation, national identity, and even Iran’s regional economy.