Hong Kong is set to lose three of its most exclusive carpet shops over coming months as the world's supply of handwoven Persian rugs dries up.
Rehman Mir will be closing the doors of Mir Oriental Carpets in Wyndham Street for the last time early next year after selling carpets to the rich and famous for nearly 40 years.
The trader, whose family has been in the carpet business for five generations, shut his premier shop off London's Savile Row in March despite a doubling in the price of Persian carpets over the past year.
Mr Mir said 'old world' Persian carpets dating from before the Iranian revolution, which made up 99 per cent of the stock, were extremely difficult to acquire today, while present-day production was faltering in Iran.
Meanwhile, specialists in old-world Persians were being undercut by dealers selling modern-day reproductions that were machine-woven on the mainland or in India for the mass market.
'The lack of credible competition makes it difficult to be a trader in old-world Persian carpets because buyers need to be able to compare prices in other shops,' he said.