After a two-year break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 29th Iran Handmade Carpet Exhibition opened at Tehran’s International Permanent Fairground on Aug. 22.
Around 400 producers of handmade carpets are showcasing their products in the weeklong event, according to Abdollah Bahrami, CEO of the National Union of Handwoven Carpet Cooperatives of Iran, IRNA reported.
The exhibition is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The previous carpet exhibition was held in the fiscal 2020-21.
Noting that the exhibition is the world's largest in terms of quality and quantity of the products displayed, Bahrami said foreign traders and businessmen will be present in the expo to buy Iranian carpets.
“The public can buy and order carpets directly at this event, which eliminates the role of middlemen,” he said.
At a press conference held a day after the exhibition opened, Farahnaz Rafe’, the head of the National Carpet Center of Iran, said around 1 million square meters of handmade carpets were produced in the country during the first four months of the current Iranian year (March 21-July 22).
“This volume of production has provided employment to more than 79,000 people,” she said, adding that there are two million carpet weavers in Iran, 230,000 of whom have insurance coverage.
Iranian handmade carpet is registered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Rafe’ announced in December last year.
“From now on, Iran's hand-woven carpet will be exported with the WIPO badge to preserve the authenticity and identity of the Iranian art in the international arena.”
The official described the global registration of Iran’s handwoven carpets as a remarkable move for preserving this genuine art.
WIPO is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations, which was set up in 1967 to encourage creative activity and promote the protection of intellectual property across the world.
Four hand-woven Persian carpets with a total area of 2,000 square meters were exported to the UAE earlier this year.
“These carpets were woven in Tabriz, the provincial capital of East Azarbaijan, over seven years,” spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, Rouhollah Latifi, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Two of these carpets were 600 square meters each (30 meters in length and 20 meters in width) and the other two were 400 square meters each (20 meters in length and 20 meters in width).
The last time carpets of such sizes were exported from the country was 15 years ago.
Exports on Decline
Despite the fact that Iran has historically mastered the art of carpet weaving, the share of Persian carpets has been dwindling in international markets over the years, partly because of competition from other countries and in part due to lack of efficient marketing and domestic regulations that obstruct exports.
The specialized commission for carpets, handicrafts and tourism of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives recently petitioned the government to repeal the Central Bank of Iran’s so-called “foreign exchange commitment policy".
“The policy, approved in the fiscal 2019-20 by CBI, has killed carpet-weavers’ and exporters’ motivation for work; the directive has hampered the carpet industry over the past three years, reducing exports to $50 million per year,” Bahrami told ISNA.
The CBI mandates all exporters to repatriate their foreign currency earnings from exports and sell them at lower than open market rates to the bank, which discourages traders to embark on exports.
Covid-19 and the absence of foreign traders have been other obstacles in the way of exports in recent years, he added, noting that the prices of rugs have increased as a result of the decline in the number of weavers and the rise in the prices of raw materials.
“Export of carpets is contingent on production and employment. In the absence of exports, domestic production and employment decrease. Under the current conditions, no trader is willing to export carpets,” Bahrami said.
The Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration’s data show handmade carpet exports reached its peak in the fiscal 1993-94 to $2 billion. The exports declined to $240 million in the fiscal 2018-19 and further to $70 million in the fiscal 2019-20.
A total of $64 million worth of handmade Iranian carpets were exported from Iran in the fiscal 2021-22, registering a 10% decline compared with the year before, according to the head of the National Carpet Center of Iran.
However, production, she said, rose by 27% during the period to stand at 2.8 million square meters.
Razi Haji-Aqamiri, a member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, was recently quoted as saying that exports of hand-woven carpets have been on a constant decline, except in the early years after the Islamic Revolution, which is indicative of the fact that the policies employed by subsequent governments regarding the carpet industry have been unhelpful.
The official noted that old, traditional markets of Persian carpets have all but disappeared; carpet is a cultural product that needs long-term marketing.
“Persian carpets have been in the US and Europe for over 200 years. Marketing for Persian carpet requires great investment to pay off and these expenses are beyond the means of the private sector. The government should seek to create markets via long-term advertising plan and strategy. The revival of lost markets is virtually impossible and the government doesn’t seem to be motivated enough to spend at the present juncture,” he added.
“At present, a handful of producers are in the business of making high-priced carpets; they are making sales to some extent but generally there are no carpet exports. Export of Persian carpet is dead,” he declared.
Elaborating on the collapse of carpet trading in the international markets, Haji-Aqamiri said, “The status of carpet has shifted in the global markets. These changes have harmed Persian carpet more than those made in other countries. Today, interior designers are less inclined to recommend decorating areas with hand-woven rugs. Carpet flooring is not as popular now as it was in the past, but it is important to take a greater share of this small market.”
Adverse Impact of Sanctions
The official noted that sanctions have also played a significant part in weakening the position of Persian carpets in the global markets.
“Customers have forgotten about us due to our absence in the market,” he added.
Iran and six world powers, namely the United States, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany signed an agreement dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015, under which Tehran agreed to limit the scope of its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. It was implemented a year later and led to the removal of years of international sanctions against Iran.
However, the US in 2018 unilaterally walked out of the nuclear deal, which led to the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran under the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign.
As such, the United States, which was previously the biggest buyer of Persian handmade carpet, stopped importing. This is while the country used to import $80-100 million worth of carpets annually prior to the sanctions.
