Amude – North-Press Agency
Avin Sheikhmous
Inside an industrial workshop full of iron and steel rods in the outskirts of the town of Amude in north-eastern Syria, Omran Shams al-Din Bek is inspecting the readiness of the materials required for him to start processing an order for a customer. The workshop was previously making bases for satellite dishes, steel doors and home water tanks, as it has turned to working on manufacturing kerosene stoves.
Kerosene stoves had been used in the house by the people of Amude, just like old days, as a result of the high costs of the gas cylinders compared to the kerosene.
The owner of the workshop was unable to settle on a specific type in his production, as he moved from modern industries to the traditional ones, in addition to manufacturing newly emerged caravans.
The work of this workshop was affected by the difficulty in getting the expensive raw materials coming from the city of Aleppo. Additionally, the Turkish military invasion in the areas of Sere-Kaniya (Ras al-Ain) and (Gre-Spi) Tal Abyad had caused, since last November, the disruption of some major roads, most notably the M4 highway, pushing traders to find alternatives, but more expensive, roads, not to mention the large swing of the dollar’s exchange rate which caused a significant loss in the sales from time to another.
The workshop owner’s plans are limited to securing basic production requirements and achieving a better income for his workers in his current workshop, in a time the idea of expanding the scope of work would require “a large number of workers with better wages. I cannot provide the necessary moneys today due to the high costs of shipping and the blockade imposed on the region," he said.