Assistant Professor of History, National Library and Archives of Iran
10.30465/ehs.2025.51477.2034
Abstract
Until the beginning of Mozaffar al-Din Shah’s reign, all sugar consumed in Iran was imported from abroad. The first attempts to produce sugar domestically during his rule failed, until, with the rise of Reza Shah and the reopening of the Kahrizak Sugar Factory in 1931, sugar production in Iran resumed after a 35-year hiatus. Subsequently, the Škoda Company was commissioned to construct six sugar factories in different parts of the country, one of which was the Shahabad Sugar Factory. This was despite the fact that Shahabad had neither an industrial background nor any prior experience in beet cultivation.
This study, using a descriptive–analytical method and based on unpublished archival documents and press materials from Reza Shah’s period, examines the backgrounds, objectives, and consequences of establishing this factory. Findings indicate that after the relative consolidation of royal estates in western Iran, state policies shifted from quantitative expansion toward commercialization and changes in cropping patterns. The establishment of the Shahabad Sugar Factory at the center of the royal estates in the west formed part of this strategy—by cultivating sugar beet on these lands, both profitability could increase and the factory’s raw material could be secured.
