To make furniture, Iran has to import wood from Georgia since the wood available in the country is of low quality, said a member of Tehran Carpenters and Sofa Manufacturers Union, adding that 80% to 90% of the fabric needed in making sofas are also imported from Turkey and China. “Production of the active factories has fallen drastically. A case in point is our own factory. It is now operating at less than 10% of its capacity,” Hossein Seyyed Mahmoudi continued. “This is while VIP upholstered sofas made in Italy are sold at 250 million rials (over $7,500) in Iran. The same sofas can be made in Iran for 60 to 70 million rials ($1,800 to $2,000),” ISNA quoted him as saying. He viewed Iran’s exports of sofas as insignificant and said most producers have the tendency to make their goods on the cheap since they are short on finance. He called on the government to provide producers with low-interest loans.
