‘National Carpet Center’ revived in Iran’s Industry Ministry
Hand-woven Persian rugs victim of political rivalries
Iran’s deputy minister of industry, mines and trade announced the revival of the “National Carpet Center” following reforms implemented by the current government in the structure of the carpet sector in the ministry.
Davood Mousavi described the provision of liquidity as one of the challenges and concerns in the carpet sector and stated, “For this reason, interactions and meetings are being held with operating banks to resolve some of the liquidity problems of carpet producers.”
Mousavi said the rising cost of items related to carpet production, including dyes and silk, is a challenge for an artist who wants to start their activity from a small workshop, and if the mentioned measures are taken, these problems will also be resolved.
Emphasizing the capacity to export Iranian hand-woven carpets to countries around the world, the deputy minister said Iran is known for carpets, and in the issue of carpets, the Islamic Republic has been and is a top global brand as well as an international brand.
“Those involved in the Iranian carpet industry know that, considering past approaches, there were even problems within the administrative structure of carpets. However, with the establishment of the current government, the structure of the carpet sector was reformed, and the ‘National Carpet Center’ was revived within the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade due to its importance,” Mousavi said.
He stated that Iran used to have over one billion dollars in carpet exports, but the figure had significantly decreased.
“As far as commerce is concerned, one of the important issues ahead is resolving the challenges in this area so that we can take effective steps regarding the development of the carpet industry’s commerce, similar to other items. This requires coordination among all those responsible for exports, including customs, the Central Bank, and relevant ministries, and coordination in this regard is currently underway,” Mousavi added.
Yahya Ale Eshaq, a senior advisor to the Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Trade, said Iranian hand-woven carpets fell victim to political rivalries.
“The most important event that caused a disaster in Iran’s carpet industry was that in recent decades and in the years after the [1949] Revolution, the carpet industry in Iran became contaminated with internal political rivalries, and a political group in the country, believing that the carpet industry with this level of revenue generation is controlled by a specific political faction that the aforementioned group disagrees with, rose up against hand-woven carpets,” Ale Eshaq said.
“In fact, this group targeted the country’s carpet industry with the aim of incapacitating the opposing political faction, and since they also held power, they created obstacles in the way of carpet exports by enacting laws or exerted influence on its pricing so that the industry would lose its economic justification, and generally struck at the root of Iran’s carpet industry with a political approach.”
Ale Eshaq underlined that the decrease in demand for Iranian carpets inside and outside of Iran caused many master weavers to emigrate to India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China, and these countries gradually took over the global markets that were held by Iranian carpets.
He called hand-woven carpets from India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia and China as the main rivals of Iranian ones.