US market faces Iran carpet inroads

 

A delegation of American merchants will visit Iran to revive trade in Persian carpets which withered under intensified US sanctions. 

The group will include traders, researchers and writers of handmade carpets, set to travel at the end of the year, head of the Iran National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar said.

“Our aim is to revive and maintain the handwoven Iranian carpet’s links with the traditional American market and boost exports to the country,” he was quoted as saying by the local media.

In Iran, the delegation will be taken on a tour of the country’s carpet weaving hubs and Tehran’s grand bazaar and museum of Persian rugs.

The carpet trade is on course to get a boost from the lifting of sanctions following last month’s conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 countries.

Persian carpets traditionally dominate the international market of handmade rugs because of their supreme quality, design and natural color.

Carpet weaving is a family-run business with a history of more than 2,000 years in Iran. Artisan products are churned out in local workshops where honed skills in design, weaving and dying make the difference.

The business is just emerging from three years of sanctions which hit exports hard. Kargar says carpet exports stood at $330 million at the end of the last Iranian year in March — a fraction of the billion-dollar business before the sanctions were imposed.

“Given the positive political grounds which have been created, exports of hanwoven Iranian carpets are expected to boom and reach $500 million this year,” he said.

Iranian carpets are currently exported to 80 countries, but the US holds a special place among the traders.

“The thirst and passion for carpet exports to the American market is highly strong and there is an expectation of a leap in sales to the country,” Kargar said.

Iran is gearing up for an international exhibition of handmade carpets to be held in Tehran on August 23-29. Kargar said the event will be the largest of its kind thus far, where 700 producers and exporters will present their products.

American delegation to visit Iran for trading carpet

ECONOMICS

An America delegation would visit Iran late January or February to discuss carpet trading with Iran.

“The delegation includes businessmen, researchers, writers and media activists. The trip will open a new page in carpet field,” said Head of Iranian National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar.

He further said that the country’s carpet exports rose since the beginning of the last Iranian calendar year (started on March 21, 2014).

According to Kargar, Iran’s carpet exports totaled $300 million and weighed 5100 tons during the last Iranian calendar year, but the amount needs to rise to $500 million.

He also said that the 24th International hand-woven carpet exhibition starts on August 23 in Iran which would be attended by businessmen from Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Germany as well as some Asian, African and American traders.

Iran would also hold a special meeting for the foreign traders to introduce Iranian hand-woven carpets, he said.

Kargar continued that Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Japan and China are key clients for Iranian hand-woven carpets.

Iranian carpets to reconquer US market once sanctions removed

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Iran’s hand-woven carpets will once again conquer US markets after sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic over its peaceful nuclear program are lifted, a new report says.

The report published by the Boston Globe on Tuesday, said “Iran’s famed carpet weavers” are “anticipating a boost in [Iran’s carpet] exports as sanctions” will be soon lifted in line with an agreement reached between Tehran and six world powers in mid-July.

“The Persian hand-woven carpet is Iran’s ambassador. I’m delighted that the ambassador is in the process of resuming work in the US,” an Iranian carpet exporter, Jila Rassam Arabzadeh, was quoted by the paper as saying. “The Persian carpet is like the Iranian flag, known all over the world. Let our flag fly.”

On July 14, Iran and the P5+1 group of world powers – the US, the UK, Germany, France, China, and Russia – reached the conclusion of negotiations over Tehran’s civilian nuclear program, with the Islamic Republic and the sextet sealing an agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Based on JCPOA, the sextet agreed to remove all sanctions imposed on Iran’s economic and energy sectors in return for certain restrictions in Iran’s nuclear program.

The sanctions were imposed on Tehran by the European Union and the United States at the beginning of 2012 under the pretext that there was diversion in Iran’s civilian nuclear program toward military purposes. Iran firmly rejected the allegation, noting that its civilian nuclear program only pursued peaceful goals.

According to Boston Globe’s report, Persian carpets were among Iran’s top export commodities that suffered most as a result of sanctions.

Head of the Iranian National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar told the paper that before sanctions, Iran’s hand-woven carpets accounted for about one-fifth of the US market, adding that Iran’s carpet producers are already making carpets for the US market, hoping that exports will resume next year.

File photo shows Iranian carpet sellers folding carpets in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar on March 18, 2015. ©AFP

“People in the carpet business have begun to produce carpets suiting the taste of the American market, receiving orders and negotiating with customers,” the Iranian official said.

Kargar added, “Since 2010, we lost one-fifth of our exports because we were deprived of the US market. Our rivals replaced Iran. However, we expect that Americans will welcome Persian carpets again because of its unique designs and colors.”

According to the report, Iran exported USD 330 million worth of Persian carpets last year with the figure accounting for two-thirds of the country’s carpet production, which now stands at more than 53 million square feet (4.9 square meters) a year.