Baku, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran has exported 234 tons of handmade carpets valued at $11 million to foreign countries in the first two months of current fiscal year(March 20-May 20), head of the country's National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar said.
The figure indicates a two-fold increase compared to the export of 113 tons of carpet, worth $5 million in the same period of preceding year, Kargar said, Mehr news agency reported June 5.
He said that Iran is regaining its traditional carpet markets following the removal of international sanctions last January.
The main part of Iran's exported handmade carpets went to the US in the two-month period, Kargar said, expressing hope that the stagnation regarding the handmade carpet export will be over this fiscal year thanks to the historic nuclear deal.
Iran exported $7 million worth of handmade carpets to the US from March 20 to May 20, he said.
In past years Iran's rivals such as Pakistan and India replaced the Islamic Republic in the US market.
The East Asian countries are the main buyers of Iranian carpets. Iran's handmade carpets are exported to Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, Japan, France, Sweden, Italy and Germany as well.
The country exported handmade carpets for a total of $330 million in 2014, according to the National Carpet Center of Iran.