Iran’s handmade carpet industry sales decline significantly

Iran Economic Online reported on September 7 that due to U.S. sanctions and the outbreak of the new coronavirus epidemic, Iran’s handmade carpet industry has experienced a significant decline in both exports and domestic sales. According to statistics from the Tehran Handmade Carpet Industry Association, 90% of Iran’s handmade carpets are exported to other countries. However, due to U.S. sanctions and the epidemic, transportation and foreign exchange collection have been extremely difficult this year, and exports have dropped significantly. At the same time, this also affects the domestic market. Due to rising costs, high inflation, and declining purchasing power of the people, sales of handmade carpets in Iran’s domestic market have dropped by 80% this year. Despite this, carpet production costs are rising instead of falling. 85% of the production cost of handmade carpets is worker wages and 15% is raw material costs. Due to factors such as inflation and exchange rate depreciation, worker wages and the cost of imported raw materials have increased, so the price of handmade carpets has not declined. </p