Iranian carpet exports decreased by 14 percent in 2001, totaling $338 million, according to the head of the Iranian Carpets Manufacturing Association, Redha Kamali. Kamali added that Iran used to manufacture 55 percent of the world’s carpet products and now only supplies 30 percent of the international demand, reported Al-Hayat.
The Iranian official related the decline to the emergence of new competitors on the market, especially from Turkey, China and India. Carpet exports are Iran’s second largest foreign currency source after oil. — (menareport.com)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
