“Today, our imports are mostly made from Thailand, China, Vietnam and Indonesia, which have detected this demand in Iran and other Islamic countries. Previously, our main suppliers of chador were Switzerland, South Korea and Japan,” Alireza Haeri was quoted by IRNA as saying.
According to the official, domestic demand for the product stands at 70-80 million square meters per annum, Financial Tribune reported.
“The only producer of the black fabric in Iran is Hijab Factory in Shahr-e Kord in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province. The factory has the capacity to produce 10 million square meters of chador every year, which can only meet 10-15% of the domestic demand.”
A total of 14,205 tons of fine black fabrics for making chador worth $86.53 million were imported into Iran during the last fiscal year (March 2018-19).
Despite the huge deficit in supplying domestic demand, Iran exported 4,640 tons of the fabric worth $16.75 million to Iraq, Afghanistan, Canada, Germany, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Japan during the same period under review (March 2018-19), Alef reported.