Carpet Exports Incomes To Reach $1b This Year

Bojnourd, North Khorassan Province, June 27, IRNA – The head of the National Iranian Carpet Center, Mohammad Bagher Agha-Alikhani, says one billion dollars worth of hand-woven carpets will be exported this year. Agha-Alikhani told reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony to break the ground for establishment of the first Iranian Specialized Carpet Township in Bojnourd that the country's hand-woven carpet exports will double this year compared to the previous year. He said the carpet export earnings stood at $560 million last year. He added that to attain this goal this year, those engaged in the hand-woven carpet business and industry will take part in 16 exhibitions abroad and 20 commercial delegations will be dispatched to the target states. According to the latest statistics released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the country's handmade carpet exports rose by 0.8 percent in value last year. The carpets were exported to more than 80 countries last year. Germany topped the list of importers of Iranian carpets by buying USD 107.9 million worth of carpets, followed by the United Arab Emirates, with USD 102 million. Italy ranked third by importing USD 29.9 million worth of handmade carpets from Iran. Iran also exported USD 400 million of worth of handmade carpets to the United States in the same year. Pakistan, Japan, Britain, Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Qatar, Canada, Lebanon, China, South Africa, Austria, Australia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Singapore, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, France and Malaysia were other major markets of Iranian handmade carpets. Handmade carpets stood among Iran's top ten export items in 2010, but fell in ranking to the 13th last year. In January 2012, Feisal Mardasi, former head of National Iranian Carpet Center, announced the center’s long-term goal of increasing annual carpet exports to USD 40 billion./end