Tehran, Iran, Nov.4
Trend:
The US sanctions also have a negative impact on Iranian carpet exports, the chairman of Exports Committee of Iran Chamber of Commerce Reza Miri told Trend.
The US was always the most important export market for Iranian carpets. In the years after the Iran revolution, due to the sanctions, the US market has completely lost its dependency on Iran and other competitors filled the vacuum.
"We can never go back to the markets of the 1960s and 70s, because we have lost opportunities, and we have no monopoly power due to sanctions.”
"When the Iran deal was signed, Iran found stronger competitors in the global markets, and we realized that we had to have more share on the market again. The sanctions also hit the Iranian carpet exports by increasing costs of production, raising export risks and complicating the process of transactions. With new sanctions, we will take a step backward again."
Iran exported over $130 million worth of handmade carpets to the US alone last year, which is practically unavailable this year, he said.
“Iran's exports of hand-woven carpets reached $400 million by the end of the current fiscal year.”
Referring to European markets and the impact of sanctions, he said that there is no reason for US sanctions to affect Iranian sales in those markets, but there are other problems, such as bank transactions that have made the work harder.
“Our exports to Germany, which is the main Iran carpet importer, are dead today,” said Miri.
"In the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Iran's carpet is a luxury and expensive product, with its own customers,” he said.
“While the presence of countries such as Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan has made it generally unnecessary to import carpets to CIS countries, unless there is a special feature in the carpet,” he said.
Fresh US restrictions on Iran's oil sales abroad will go into effect 5 November.