Afghan Carpet Industry On The Up

Mohammad Rasul Tajzadah, director of the Tajzadah Trading Company, sits in the shade of a tree as he instructs his staff to collect and pack a new consignment of carpets for export.

A veteran of the carpet trade in the northern province of Balkh, Tajzadah has seen the industry deteriorate not only as a result of war but also because of what he sees as its failure to keep up with modern fashions. Now, it seems, the tide is turning.

“A year ago, a six-square-metre Afghan carpet was priced at 600 US dollars, but that’s now increased to 1,100 US dollars, because of fundamental changes to dyes, design and quality,” he said. “There isn’t a good market for carpets made by those who still weave in the old way.”

Once world-famous, the Afghan carpet industry was hit badly by the wars of the 1980s and early 1990s, and then under the Taleban regime. Many weavers, mostly ethnic Turkmen from northern Afghanistan, became refugees in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan, where their output contributed to the rug markets in those countries.

After the Taleban government was ousted in 2001, imports of cheap machine-made Pakistani, Iranian, Turkish and Chinese carpets damaged the domestic market.

Still a major export item, most Afghan carpets are woven in northern provinces like Faryab, Sar-e Pol, Kunduz, Takhar and Jowzjan as well as in Herat to the west.

Rug industry insiders in northern Afghanistan say they have taken steps to revive production, including introducing better-quality raw materials and new designs which they believe are more in demand for export.

“Although the weavers worked hard in the past, the use of low-quality dyes and threads from Iran and Pakistan and old, unchanging designs weakened the market for Afghan carpets,” Tajzadah said.

Instead of just buying carpets from weavers, he said, dealers now preferred to provide them with the raw materials and designs and pay them a wage for the finished product.

Zobaira, a carpet-weaver, said she had never earned much from making rugs, but she hoped her income would increase as the market improved.

“We used to buy raw materials for a carpet for 300 dollars and sell a six-square-metre carpet for 500 to 600 dollars after three or four months of hard work, which wasn’t a great reward for our efforts,” she said. “But now the contractors bring us the designs and threads and pay us a wage of 500 dollars, which is better for us.”

Traders in Balkh say they are already reaping the benefits.

Abdol Satar Begzadah, director of the Association of Carpet Producers and Exporters for Northern Afghanistan, said that most of the traders who had suffered during the 1990s were now optimistic as they saw their businesses growing.

Innovation was helping the industry regain its place on the world market, he said, explaining, “We’re now making natural plant dyes inside Afghanistan, and they are of high quality. Besides, Afghan carpets in the past were mainly red – a bit dark – or blue and white, but with these new designs we’re using grey, green, blue and other colours which are both beautiful and natural.”

According to Begzadah, there are 120 carpet businesses across northern Afghanistan.

“Carpet exports have improved a lot from last year,” Abdol Wakil Motawakel, chief executive of the Balkh Chamber of Commerce, told IWPR. “The reason exports are increasing day by day is that traders in the north are procuring them to order for foreign export markets.”

Mohammad Jamshid, a carpet trader in Balkh, said that while producers were beginning to use new design and production techniques, they faced many more basic problems.

“We face problems in areas where there’s no electricity,” he said. “Most of the weavers are women, who are generally busy with the housework and children during the day, and when they have time at night, there is no light…. They don’t have access to clinics or doctors, and they use opium to keep the children quiet and treat their own aches and pains. Taking opium has a very bad effect on their health and work.”

Carpet dealers remain concerned by the impact of cheap imports on the local market.

Gholam Sakhi, a trader in Mazar-e Sharif, said that although business was getting better, imported rugs were still a threat.

“The government should impose high import taxes on machine-made Turkish, Iranian and Pakistani carpets so that they don’t harm the domestic market,” he said.

For Afghans like Hamidollah, a Kabul resident standing outside a shop musing over which rug to buy, cost is key.

“Cheapest is best for people here,” he said. “It’s true that carpets from our country are high-quality and beautiful, but people can’t afford them. I’m a government employee and my [monthly] salary is 100 dollars, so how can I buy an Afghan carpet for 500 or 600 dollars when I can buy a Turkish, Iranian or Chinese carpet of the same size and with a beautiful design for only 100 or 150 dollars?”

Palwasha Balkhi is an IWPR-trained journalist in Balkh, northern Afghanistan.