The 27th Iran Handmade Carpet Exhibition is scheduled to open at Tehran International Permanent Fairground on August 25.
According to the official website of the event at www.idro-fairs.com, the exhibition will run for seven days to conclude on August 31. It will be held concurrently with the 30th National Crafts Exhibition.
Around 5,400 tons of hand-woven Persian carpets worth $424 million were exported from Iran in the last fiscal year (ended March 20, 2018), registering an increase of 18.11% in value compared to the year before, data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show.
Persian hand-woven carpets are exported to about 80 countries.
The United States, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Lebanon, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Japan have traditionally been major buyers of Iranian carpets.
The US has been the biggest export destination, as it imported $126 million worth of Persian rugs last year, but the new US sanctions on Iran have targeted the hand-woven carpets.
Deputy Industries Minister Sadeq Najafi said the United States’ ban on Iranian products will result in the loss of US and UAE’s market for Iranian carpets, therefore it is necessary for exporters to focus on alternative markets such as Germany, Russia and Oman.
“The US administration pulled out of the nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers in May and reinstated sanctions on Iranian products. It has refused to buy Iranian carpets for several weeks now,” Fereshteh Pakdast, director of Iran National Carpet Center, said.
The US Treasury Department announced in late June that it had revoked licenses that allowed US-controlled foreign firms to export commercial aircraft parts to Iran and permitted Americans to trade in Iranian carpets, pistachios and caviar.
