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NEWS
India Carpet Expo in March 2023 in Okhla, New Delhi
Now that the India Carpet Expo was held for the first time in Bhadohi rather than Varanasi in October, the fair will again take place in Okhla / New Delhi next spring.
From 15 to 18 March 2023, the Indian carpet export promotion council CEPC expects 250
exhibitors will be on hand in the halls of the NSIC exhibition complex. The international buyers will likely be seeing a wide range of products from all major carpet producing re- gions of India, shown by manufacturers and exporters from Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Agra, Jaipur, Panipat and Srinagar.
EUCA – Annual General Meeting
Reports from the countries of origin
On 24 November 2022 the European Carpet Import- ers Association (EUCA) sent out invitations to the or- ganisation‘s Annual General Meeting, which had been postponed since 2021 due to the pandemic. The regu-
inflation has caused domestic sales to slow, leading to major manufacturing cutbacks.
Jens-Peter Höge of Jambros has his suppliers in China – a market where he believes knotted rugs have been ir- relevant for years. Machine-made carpets with a soft feel are popular. Good news: transport costs for overseas containers have fallen significantly again, which recently were very high. China has relaxed its quarantine regula- tions, but he is very concerned about the country‘s zero- Covid policy, because planning gets complicated as in- fection numbers start to rise.
The situation in Afghanistan is very troubled, according to Naser Sedeghi of Sadiq. All countries of origin share challenges from higher materials and transport costs, but getting goods out of Afghanistan is a special prob- lem. Importer Volker Heinrich confirmed that the Indian market too has seen extreme price rises for materials and logistics.
Heinrich is also Chairman of Care & Fair, a charity active against child labour in in the carpet industry, which he reported on. He is very satisfied with developments, as many online retailers and international firms are now sup- porting the organisation. A school is being built in India with funds donated by Benuta, which is slated to open in 2023. And the Australian label Armadillo will be putting up funds for a new girls‘ school. Retailers in India and Pa- kistan are becoming increasingly aware of the charitable work done by the Care & Fair initiative in those countries, and are leveraging theiraffiliation in their marketing.
lar Board of Directors elections were on the agenda, in which the sitting board members were re-elected. The Board is thus constituted as follows: Dr. Ali Ipektchi (Chairman), Jens-Peter Höge (Vice Chairman), Tobias Graebener (regular member), Djavid Mohammadi (regu- lar member), Ali Razavi (regular member) and Amir Tah- baz (regular member).
The reports heard on the individual countries of origin principally concerned the pandemic as well as political crises. Ali Razavi of Rimex and Amir Tahbaz of Bahram Tahbaz reported on the situation in Iran. The Iranian car- pet market thrives on domestic sales primarily. Surging
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