TEHRAN (Iran News) – Deputy Head of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Ministry for export affairs says Iran has exported handicrafts worth of $47m in the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq have been the major destinations for the handicrafts exports.
Farzad Ojani said that according to the statistics releade by the Iran Customs Administration, some $47m worth of handicrafts with approximate weight of 20,163 tons have been exported in the first quarter of the year.
He said Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Singapore have been the top destinations for Iran’s handicrafts exports as the country has exported mostly precious and semi-precious stones to Singapore.
He added that precious metals and stones, rug, matting, earthenware and ceramic have been of the major exports of Iran in this period.
Ojani reiterated that last year and according to the official statistics, Iran exported $322m worth of handicrafts with the approximate weight of 112,554 tons. He added that the value of the baggage exports was valued at some $207m and on the whole one can say Iran’s handicrafts exports last year were $530m.
He added that wood furniture, rug, mating, copper and traditional glasses were of the major exports items last year and Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Azerbaijan were the major target destinations for handicrafts exports last year.
He reiterated that since some of handicrafts are exported or transferred to other countries through baggage and unofficially, it is difficult to have a precise figure on the amount of the handicrafts exports.
Ojani added that the pandemic has affected the national tourism and sales of handicrafts or its exports but the amount of the exports last year was much better than its preceding year.
He noted that Isfahan ranks first in production and export of handicrafts in the country and Tehran ranks in terms of producing jewelry.
He reiterated packing is an important issue in the exports and in case Iran improves its packing, it can export more handicrafts and packing is considered as a serious issue in the handicrafts exports. He admitted that since Afghanistan and Iraq are the major destinations for exports, exporters are unwilling to improve the quality of their packing or spending more on packing of their products.
According to official reports, tourism and handicraft industries have been the major victims of the pandemic and these two industries have suffered badly and many people in these businesses have lost their jobs.
