Quarterly Scientific-Research Goljaam

Carpet is the most important goods for non-oil export in Iran. More than 25 percent of non-oil export income has come from carpet since 40 years ago. It has a high share in the value of non-oil exports in our country. Accordingly, the goal of this research is studying Iran’s hand-woven carpet export and recognizing goal markets and obstacles of being present in such markets. Doing this, firstly, comparative advantage of Iran’s carpet has been calculated during the years 2000-2005 using RCA, RSCA and indices and then it has been tried to find the potential export markets by identifying Iran’s carpet importer countries and prioritizing them using numerical taxonomy method. The results show that in the field of hand-woven carpet, Iran has a comparative advantage for exporting. But downward trend of comparative advantage of hand-woven carpet during the studied years suggests weakening of competitive position of this product in the world. In other words, downward trend of comparative advantage index of hand-woven carpet indicates the gradual loss of our country’s expertise in carpet export. Prioritizing of the target markets show that the main export markets for Iran’s hand-woven carpet are: America, UAE, Japan and Germany respectively.

Globalization as a part of modern economy has been of huge controversies in different countries including Iran. Since Iran is attempting to increase its non-oil exports and its presence in global markets. Enduring in this competitive worldly market necessitates evaluation of tastes and creation of new markets for the products. Accordingly Iranian hand-woven carpets are among the top exports of the country is looking for a proper position in global trade. Traditional production and concentration on out-dated designs beside blind-weaving and neglecting the customers taste in target markets are the main reasons of the recession in its trade that are in an urgent need of reconsideration. Although carpet is of a great artistic value, its commercial value ought to be kept in mind as well. Studies show that there is a huge gap between carpet production in Iran and its marketing and evaluation of potential customers' taste around the world. It seems as if lack of interest in utilizing modern information technology tools among Iranian carpet traders abroad has caused them not receive enough information about customers' taste and as a result fail in relating the tastes and domestic production. This survey type descriptive study attempts to collect data through field, libraries and internet.