The Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade’s official news service Shata also reported that exports of Persian hand-woven carpets to the US alone during the two months witnessed a huge increase of 143% and 59.6% to hit 206 tons worth $9.1 million respectively. The US has recently banned carpet imports from Iran. Deputy Industries Minister Sadeq Najafi said exporters should now focus on alternative markets such as Germany, Russia and Oman. Iran exported more than $400 million worth of carpets in the last fiscal year (March 2017-18), indicating an 18% increase compared with the year before, according to Financial Tribune.