Abadan Khaly, the Turkmen Open Joint Stock Company (OJSC) intends to soon close a deal with a private domestic firm Aga Gurlushyk to set up a carpet factory in Akhal Velayat, a region located in the center of the southern part of Turkmenistan at the border of the Kara Kum desert, a Turkmen Government report said.
OJSC intends to use its own as well as borrowed capital to fund designing and construction of the factory on an area of 14.5 hectares, to equip the new facility to produce 800,000 square metres of carpets, each year, Azer News reported quoting the report. The proposal includes plan to launch construction of the complex in June this year, and kick start the actual operations by November 2015. As a leading supplier of well-known Turkmen pure wool hand-tufted carpet, OJSC caters to the local as well as world market. Incorporating 10 artistic carpet weaving firms within its network, Turkmenkhaly also operates over 100 carpet sites and stores across the nation.
The 10 carpet weaving enterprises mainly engage in production of classic Turkmen carpets, plot, ornamental carpets, rugs portraits and souvenir items, and serves as a source of employment for over 10,000 weavers. Owing to the technique of production and aesthetic content, Turkmen carpets fall within the category of antiques. Having over 200,000 to 400,000 knots per square metre, the pattern of these carpets is very expressive due to their high density. Ethnographers, who conduct descriptive study of a particular human society, say, since the start of 20th century, demand for Turkmen carpets from Europe has several times outshined the supply.
