A trilateral agreement has been signed between the Iranian National Carpet Center (INCC), the governor of Fars Province and the provincial organization of industry, mine and trade for developing the hand-made carpet industry in the southern province, IRNA reported Friday.
Hamid Karegar, head of INCC, says despite growth in carpet exports in the first six months of the current Iranian year (March 21-August 22), state of carpet industry is still far less than desirable.
The agreement is meant to regulate and expand cooperation in the form of research and development projects, production, marketing and advertisement of handmade carpets to enhance the quality of products and also the volume of exports. The past is also aimed at expansion of support for the people involved in carpet industry and development of entrepreneurship opportunities in line with the goals of INCC.
Karegar said that Iran’s handmade carpet industry, with a history dating back to more than a thousand years, should be the pioneer of Iranian economy, culture and growth. He also stressed the need for targeted publicity of this industry in the domestic media, saying “instead of portraying the carpet weaver’s poverty in the media, the attention must be diverted to their artistic capabilities and how it can generate income.”
Iran currently produces 5 million square meters of handmade carpets per year of which 3.5 million square meters are exported to international markets. The total export value of Iranian handmade carpet is about $600 million annually. The traditional export markets for Iranian carpet are the US, Germany, Italy, UAE, and Japan. The most recent markets include China and South Africa.
However, sanctions on Iran’s banking system and a 2010 embargo on Iranian rugs by the US government have limited carpet merchants’ ability to sell goods abroad and generate income for the national economy.
