Page 26 - IRANRptDec21

Iran exports $110mn of Persian rugs in six months
Trade between Iran, Turkey expands 76% y/y in first nine months to $3.34bn
Iraq at $6.1bn and Turkey at $3.8bn, said Mir Asharfi, adding that exports to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan amounted to $2.9bn and $1.27bn, respectively.
Basic goods accounted for 38% of the value of the imports that arrived in Iran during the assessed eight months. Mir Asharfi noted that the government provided $9.9bn of funds to subsidise shipments at the official exchange rate. The rate is around eight times lower than the current rate on the FX free market.
The UAE, the main re-exporting hub in the Persian Gulf, remained the largest supplier of goods to Iran, sending $10.1bn of exports to the country. Next were China at $7.2bn and Turkey at $3.2bn.
Germany and Switzerland were the fourth and fifth largest exporters to Iran, at $1.2bn and $1.1bn, respectively.
Iran exported around $117mn of Persian rugs to global markets from March to September this year in a period corresponding with the first six months of the current Persian year, IRNA has reported.
Over 8,000 tonnes of machine-made rugs worth $110mn, 10,000 tonnes of other rugs earning $7mn and 10 tonnes of artificial grass earning $14,000 were exported, it added.
No comparative figures were provided for rug sales in the same period of the preceding Persian year, but it was a year in which the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis impacts on the rug trade were far heavier than they have been this year. In the first six months of the current Persian year, 41mn square metres of machine-made rugs, 66mn square metres of other rugs and 3,800 tonnes of artificial grass were produced in Iran.
Industry minister Mehdi Sadeghi Niaraki said: “There are more than 135mn square metres of machine rug production capacity and 281mn square metres of rug production capacity in the country ...and last year industrialists worked in the field of machine rugs using more than 70% of nominal capacity.” Artificial grass has been a boom industry for Iran in recent years as western markets increase their usage of the product.
Due to Iran’s large petrochemical sector that provide materials for rug production, the country has been able to undercut international competition with low priced rug products, the minister added.
In October, Iran launched its first rug export terminal in the western city of Zanjan. The move was made as part of a plan to boost exports by exploiting the weakening of the Iranian rial which has continued to devalue amid the country’s economic difficulties
In the 2018-19 Persian calendar year, Iran exported carpets and rugs with a value of around $400mn, according to Fars News Agency, at the time.
Iran and Turkey registered trade worth $3.34bn in the first nine months of this year, marking a 76.4% expansion, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK).
The neighbours, both with a population of around 84mn people, have seen trade less impacted by the coronavirus crisis this year than it was last year. Exports from Iran were valued at $1.69bn during the first three quarters, up 140.6% y/y, while imports from Turkey grew by 38.6% y/y to $1.65bn, the data showed.
Iran and Turkey exchanged $503.4mn of goods and commodities in September alone, higher by 90.48% y/y. Iranian exports accounted for $256.7mn of that sum, up 171.8% y/y.
26 IRAN Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com