Iran's handwoven carpet exports, once worth nearly $2.5 billion annually, have now "virtually stopped," a provincial industry official said, reflecting the steep decline of one of the country's best-known exports.
"At the moment, carpet exports have nearly reached zero," Abdolrahman Tasmim Ghatee, head of the union of handicrafts sellers and handwoven carpet producers in Fars province, told the Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA), a semi-official labor-focused news outlet.
He said exports, which once stood at close to $2.5 billion, had fallen to less than $50 million in recent years, with little trade now taking place.
Market slump hits producers
Tasmim Ghatee said around 90% of the sector depended on tourism, especially foreign visitors, but international tourism had largely dried up.
"Some shops do not make a single sale during the week because there are simply no buyers," he said. "After paying for food and daily expenses, people have nothing left to spend on decorative goods, handicrafts and carpets."
He said the market downturn had worsened after the war that began in late February between Iran, Israel and the United States, which disrupted trade and deepened economic uncertainty, even as a fragile ceasefire remains in place.
Fighting has largely stopped, but tensions persist amid stalled negotiations between Washington, Tehran and Israel over sanctions, regional security and Iran's nuclear program.
Decades-long decline
Iranian handwoven carpet exports generated more than $2 billion in revenue in 1994, one of the industry's strongest years, before entering a long decline driven by sanctions, rising competition and weaker global demand.
Exports fell to $69 million in 2019 and just $2 million in the second quarter of 2020, according to customs data and industry reports. By March 2024, exports had dropped to $39.7 million from $426 million in 2017, according to officials cited by ILNA.
Industry figures have blamed US sanctions, trade restrictions, currency rules and stronger competition from India, Turkey, Afghanistan, China and Pakistan for the downturn. The United States, once a major market for Iranian carpets, reimposed restrictions on Iranian rug imports after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018.
Weavers leave the trade
The number of carpet weavers in Fars province has dropped by about 80% from around 6,000 in 2018 to roughly 1,000 now, Tasmim Ghatee said.
"When carpets and handicrafts are not sold, naturally the weaver will not continue working," he said.
He described how rural women could spend six months weaving a carpet while covering raw material costs and household duties, only to find no market for the finished product.
"How can she start again?" he said.
Officials push digital sales
Gholamhossein Zanhari, head of the carpet department at Fars province's industry and trade office, said the sector needed safer export routes and stronger online sales to survive.
He pointed to regional markets including Armenia, Georgia, Oman and Turkey, as well as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, as potential destinations and said platforms such as Etsy and eBay could help producers reach consumers directly.
"Digitalization is not just a sales tool, but a way to maintain business continuity" during crises, he said.
