Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 16
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has exported $83 million worth of handmade carpets in the first four months of current fiscal year (March 20-July 20), head of the country's National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar said.
The figure indicates a 39.5-percent increase as compared to the same period of preceding year thanks to removal of international sanctions last January, Kargar said, IRNA news agency reported Aug. 16
Iran exported $27.6 million worth of handmade carpets to the US from March 20 to July 20, he said.
Iran was exporting some $80 million worth of handmade carpets to the US before 2010, when the sanctions against Iran were tightened.
The figure dropped to zero after 2010, he said, adding following the removal of the international sanctions last January the figure revived to $2 million in Iran’s calendar month of Bahman (Jan. 20-Feb. 20) and $9 million in the next calendar month (Feb. 20-March 20), he said.
In the 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.