Financial Tribune- More than 3,000 tons of hand-woven carpets worth $269 million were exported from Iran during the eight months to Nov. 21, registering a 31% rise compared with the similar period of last year, the head of Iran National Carpet Center announced.

“Last year, exports amounted to $359 million. Persian hand-woven carpets are exported to 80 countries,” Hamid Kargar was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

With about $90 million worth of purchases, the US was last year’s top importer of Persian carpets.

Kargar explained that exports to the US have gained momentum after five to six years of “zero” exports to the country, due to the ban imposed on the import of Iranian carpets in September 2010.

Trade resumed after international nuclear-related sanctions against Iran were lifted in January 2016.

“We are looking to add new markets, including China, South Africa as well as Chile and Brazil in South America, to the existing ones. The Chinese market is very significant for us, as the country was one of our biggest rivals and now is among our top 20 customers of the product,” he said.

“Iran is the biggest exporter of hand-woven carpets with a 30% share in global markets,” Kargar told Financial Tribune at the 26th Iran Handmade Carpet Exhibition held in Tehran’s International Permanent Fairground in August.