China becomes main destination for Iranian carpet
Tehran, April 4, IRNA - China which had become a rival for the Iranian carpet in the international market, is now one of 10 major importers of Iran’s hand-woven carpets.
Speaking to IRNA, head of Iran's National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar said that Iran has exported more than 5,243 tons of carpets worth of 321 million dollars to the world markets in the first 11 months of previous Iranian calendar year(ended March 20, 2017).
Up to 80 million dollars of carpets were directly exported to the US, the official added.
He noted that during the sanctions era, in which Tehran was not able to export carpets to the European markets, Iran started exporting carpets to new markets including Brazil, South Africa, Russia and China.
Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France, UK, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar and Japan are traditional importers of Iranian carpet, Kargar added.
He underlined that Iranian merchants attend the Xining carpet exhibition held in Qinghai province as well as Demotix Shanghai Expo every year to introduce Iran made carpets to visitors.
Iran’s annual carpet export decreased to about 300 million dollars in the past decade due to sanctions.
Iran was exporting about 500 million dollars of carpet each year before the sanctions.
After execution of nuclear deal reached between Iran and G5+1, Iran’s carpet export experienced 16 percent growth in weight and 27 percent growth in value.
source : irna