According to the economic reporter of rahnam News Agency, several days have passed since the Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade sent a letter to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Governor General of the Central Bank, prohibiting the collection of any export tariffs and duties and requiring foreign exchange contracts in the field of handicraft exports. The hand-woven carpet was announced except for the value of the raw materials used in it.
In addition to being an Iranian art, hand-woven carpet is one of the products that can generate employment and generate good currency. However, carpet industry activists believe that the unilateral US sanctions that were implemented in 1987 disrupted nearly 25% of Iran’s export markets, but after the central bank required the exporters of handwoven carpets to meet their foreign exchange obligation, the export of this product fell. Khurd, because unlike other products, the carpet is not sold quickly, and for this reason, the export currency of this product cannot return to the country at the speed desired by the government.
The discussion of the commitment of the foreign exchange agreement has caused the exporters of hand-woven carpets to stop exporting this product and trade in goods that are easier to sell. The critical situation of handwoven carpet exports has progressed to the point where less than 50 million dollars of this product is exported to other countries every year.
On this basis, during the past years, carpet industry activists continuously demanded the exemption of this product from the foreign exchange obligation, because 80% of Iranian woven carpets are exported and only 20% are consumed domestically.
According to Clause (k) of Note 9 of the budget law of 1402, it has been decided that foreign exchange contracts for the export of handwoven carpets will be prohibited. But it has not been done yet.
Just a few days ago, the Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade sent a letter to the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Governor General of the Central Bank requesting the implementation of this resolution.
Abdullah Bahrami, CEO of the Handwoven Carpet Cooperative Nationwide Union, in an interview with the economic reporter of rahnam News Agency; Pointing out that for the first time in the last one or two years, we lost the carpet export position among the countries of the region, he said: In the last 10 years, the export of handwoven carpets has increased from 500 million dollars to 50 million dollars per year.
Referring to the letter of the Minister of Security for the implementation of the resolution 1402, he added: “The issue of foreign exchange agreement is one of the problems of carpet exporters, which remains in effect.” This issue has caused the export of handwoven carpets to decrease significantly in the past few years.
Bahrami emphasized that only 10% of handwoven carpets are in the domestic market and said: 90% of handwoven carpets are exported. With the government’s neglect and lack of support, the export of handwoven carpets has increased from 500 million dollars in 2013 to 50 million dollars per year. The export of handwoven carpets in the worst conditions of the embargo was not less than 500 million dollars and even reached 1 billion to 1 billion and 200 million dollars. The lowest level of handwoven carpet exports has been in these 2 years.
The CEO of the Handwoven Carpet Cooperative Nationwide Union stated that the price of raw materials has increased drastically in the last few years and continued: If other countries produced carpets for a certain amount in the past 10 years, they are still producing them at the same price, but in our country Due to inflation and high prices, the production cost for producers has increased a lot.
The CEO of the Handwoven Carpet Cooperative National Union stated that the bottleneck of our carpet export problem is caused by internal self-sanctions and said: Central Bank’s restriction on carpet exporters should be removed.
According to the CEO of Handwoven Carpet Cooperatives Union, in addition to external sanctions, internal sanctions including the Central Bank’s foreign exchange pledge and lack of support for carpet weavers and exporters caused the production of handwoven carpets to drop to one-third and its exports to decrease drastically.
Referring to the lack of processing of carpet raw materials, the CEO of the National Union of Cooperatives of Handwoven Carpet Producers of Iran said: “There is still no investor either in the public sector or in the private sector who processes and uses all this excellent and first-class wool.” Iran has become an importer of wool and silk, which was once a producer and exporter of wool and silk. Currently, we import 700 tons of silk annually.
Stating that most producers have closed their workshops, he said: They have woven carpets, but they have not been able to sell them, and this has caused many carpets to remain in their warehouses.
end of message/