National toy festival to kick off Wednesday in Tehran
Iran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults will open its 10th National Toy Festival in Tehran on Wednesday, aiming to promote domestically-made toys and support the country’s toy industry.
The festival will run until January 17 at the institute’s Cultural and Artistic Creations Center, under the slogan “Play, the joy of life,” the organizer said in a statement carried by IRNA on Monday.
The event will feature several sections, including a marketplace for Iranian-made toys, the selection of top toys, scientific panel discussions, and a promotional exhibition focused on games and toys.
Visiting hours for the sales section will be from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., while the promotional exhibition will be open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
According to the organizer, the festival is intended to support domestic production, strengthen links between designers, manufacturers and investors, organize the toy industry and help establish an innovation system in the sector.
The event is being held in cooperation with the Iranian Toy Association, the Toy Supervisory Council, the Cognitive Sciences and Technologies Development Headquarters, Tehran Municipality and Soore University.
The festival venue is located on Hijab Street in central Tehran and will be open to the public throughout the event.
The toy manufacturing industry in Iran remains relatively small compared to global markets.
Annually, the Iranian toy market has a turnover of between $300 to 350 million, but only 40% of that comes from domestically made toys, while the rest is made up of imports and even smuggled goods.
There are about 250 official toy producers in the country, and exports of Iranian-made toys reached about $20 million in 2023, with main destinations including Iraq and neighboring countries.
The industry faces persistent challenges such as heavy import competition, financing and investment limitations, and relatively low domestic market share.