MAIMANA (SW) – A number of manufacturers and sellers of rugs and carpets in Faryab say that since the last two years, their business has been stagnant due to the diminution of the sales market, lack of support for domestic production, and the lack of provision for export and the increase in the import of foreign carpets.
Bibi Zainab, a carpet weaver in Faryab, who has been making a living from carpet weaving for 13 years, said: “We used to sell carpets for two and a half or three thousand afghanis. Now it’s cheap. We have woven a few but we have not sold them yet, because every type of carpet has come from Pakistan and other countries. I want foreign imports to stop so that the carpet market grows.”
Mohammad Asif, a resident of Kohistan district, who brought his rugs to the market for sale, said: “Five women work for up to 10 days on a 3 x 5 rug. But, compared to the effort they make, they sell it cheaply. Now my wife has woven a carpet and brought it to sell and go to Iran.”
Khair Mohammad Khairy, a member of the carpet sellers’ union in Maimana, the center of Faryab, said that he has been engaged in carpet and rug business for 40 years, but in nearly two years since then, its sales market has declined. He added: “Our market has been falling for two years now. There is neither a merchant, nor a seller, nor a buyer. I have had a shop here for more than 40 years. It has been two years since I bought the rugs and stayed in the store, but there is no buyer.”
Moazallah, a rug seller in Maimana city, said that there is no market for rugs and carpets in Afghanistan. He added that many customers used to visit his store to buy rugs but now shopkeepers can no longer take their goods to Pakistan and other countries. “If traders invest and buy and sell here, the market will be good,” he said.
Mohammad Alam, the director of export development at Faryab Directorate of Industry and Trade, said that after the political developments in the country, handicraft traders have left the country, and this has caused the rug and carpet sales market to not be as prosperous as it used to be. He added: “The Islamic Emirate and the Faryab Industry and Trade Directorate are trying to encourage businessmen to come to the country and invest so that domestic production, especially carpets and rugs, will flourish again and help the people’s economy.”
ENDS
