Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun. 4/ Trend, F. Karimov/
The Iranian textile industry has been damaged by smuggling over the past two decades, MP Kamal Alipour said.
Many textile factories have closed in recent years because of illegal imports, he said.
The government should not import low-quality textile from China and Turkey because Iranian manufacturers are able to produce high quality textiles, the MP added.
The closure of textile factories has led to unemployment for thousands of people, he noted.
Legal and illegal imports hold a 40 percent share in Iran's textile market, ISNA quoted Mehdi Mahmoudi, an official at the Association of Iranian Textile Producers as saying.
The figure was 50-60 percent last year, he said, adding that the fluctuations in the dollar's exchange rate have made importers reluctant to import.
On March 9, IRNA reported that Iran exported $644 million worth of textile products during the first eleven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012-February 18, 2013).
Textile exports grew by 24 percent compared to the same period last year.
Machine-made floorings, clothing, and threads were the main exported products.
In October, 2012, Iranian industry ministry official Mehdi Eslampanah said that regional countries as well as South America are the main destinations for Iranian textile products.