Afghan carpet industry needs protection, promotion: traders

Afghan carpet industry is trying to revitalise the traditional enterprise by setting up a center of excellence and planning exchange programmes with India among others to promote the trade that faces challenges from imported machine made cheap carpets from Iran.
The industry people in the war-torn country want to promote locally manufactured hand knitted carpet that not only directly and indirectly employs nearly 40 per cent of the population, but is also a traditional art.
They also look forward to have collaborations with their counterpart in India for the betterment of the industry.
"War and civil unrest has isolated the majority of handmade carpet manufacturers in Afghanistan for over 30 years but a small group of manufacturers have succeeded in breaking into international markets and now we have taken up the initiative to promote the trade through Afghan Carpet Center of Excellence," Executive Director of the Center, Esmat Gulistani, told PTI here.

The import of machine made carpets into Afghanistan from neighbouring Iran has affected the domestic market and concerns expressed by manufacturers relate to a potential loss of sales of the handmade carpets within the country, he said.
"The objective of the Center of Excellence is to increase the quality, variety and volume of Afghan carpet production, by identifying and sharing best practices in raw material procurement and development, styles, washing and finishing, and marketing and customer service," he said.

Gulistani said the Center was being set up to help the Afghan carpet community address the barriers to growing a profitable, healthy, inclusive industry, expanding direct sales worldwide and it will help carpet industry leaders and stakeholders overcome common challenges and obstacles.

The center will address common needs and build brand recognition, leverage marketing dollars, promote training, develop common capacities and capabilities, and advocate for the industry in international markets, he said.
Many firms in the Afghan carpet industry are not able, on their own, of building the Afghan carpet brand, getting to scale in logistics and financing, addressing issues related to the sourcing of wool, or building the quantity and quality of the finishing facilities which are important in meeting international market expectations, Gulistani explains.
He said war affected badly the industry; economical infrastructures and the system was destroyed, and almost all of the talents and skilled labor and workers fled the country.

Gulistani said that apart from promotional activities, training on latest technologies, new market identification and strategy making, exchange programmes from India will also be conducted to make industry people learn about the process involved in carpet making and to see how we can increase cooperation.