Persian carpets recapture US market

Iran’s prized rug trade is getting a boost from the lifting of sanctions, with exports to the US reclaiming the lost ground in a big way.

A stack of sanctions imposed in 2010 and then in 2012 pulled the rug from under the much-coveted Iranian carpet business, allowing cheaper craft from Pakistan, India and China to gain a foothold in the US and other key markets.

A nuclear accord reached in July has put Iran back on the market and the country’s elegant hand-knotted carpets have returned to their traditional destinations with a vengeance.

According to head of the Iranian National Carpet Center Hamid Kargar on Tuesday, Iran’s carpet exports to the US significantly grew in the four months since the beginning of the Persian year on March 21, totaling $27.6 million.

The figure compared with $80 million of Iranian carpet exports a year to the United States before the sanctions were imposed, bringing them to zero, the IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

Kargar said Iran exported $83 million of carpets in total in the first quarter of its calendar year, a rise of about 40% year-on-year.

Iranian caviar, pistachios, saffron and carpets and US commercial aircraft and their parts are among the items allowed for limited business with the US.

Carpets are a major source of revenue for Iran’s $400 billion economy behind oil and gas and their derivatives, and pistachio nuts.

SS