HERAT, Afghanistan — Paint manufacturers in Herat say they have achieved self-sufficiency in producing construction and automotive paints, claiming they can now compete with regional markets in both quality and price.
Industry leaders also say the sector has provided hundreds of jobs in the province, which serves as one of Afghanistan’s key industrial hubs.
At one of Herat’s largest paint factories, Jamshed Faizi, the owner of a leading paint manufacturing company, said local producers now offer high-quality, competitively priced products to the Afghan market.
“Building paints in Herat are produced according to international standards,” Faizi said. “We can now confidently compete with regional countries in terms of both quality and price.”
Faizi added that the expansion of the paint industry in Herat has created direct and indirect employment opportunities for around 400 people.
“We have provided jobs for approximately 400 people, both directly and indirectly,” he said.
Taliban officials in Herat’s Department of Information and Culture have praised the expansion of local manufacturing, saying that boosting domestic production reduces reliance on imports and strengthens the local economy.
“It is important that people use domestically produced goods,” said Ahmadullah Mutaqi, the Taliban’s director of information and culture in Herat. “This not only increases demand for local products but also helps improve their quality.”
According to data available online, Herat has approximately 1,160 operational factories, encompassing both large and small manufacturing units. In the past nine months alone, 160 new factories have been established in the region.
These factories operate across various sectors, including food production, construction materials, and chemical products.
