An Iranian official has called on Iranian businessmen to import high quality textile from China, criticizing their choices of low quality goods, the official IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

"Chinese producers have the capability of producing various quality goods, but Iranian traders, instead of importing the good quality products, import the worst brands of items," Mashalloh Pirouy, member of Iran Textile and Clothing Export Association, said on Sunday.

"Curiously, this is an issue which has also been referred to by some Chinese officials," he said, referring to comments of many Chinese officials stationed in Iran in a bid for a justified image of Chinese goods.

Chinese textile and other light industry products are popular in Iran. However, due to prejudice and lack of investigation, Iranian businessmen often pay attention to the Chinese wholesale markets which only exhibit products of low price.

Therefore, Chinese commodities have had a sleazy image in Iran.

Trade between Iran and China is growing rapidly. According to the Chinese Embassy in Tehran, bilateral trade volumes reached 7 billion US dollars in 2004, with half of the amount coming from China's crude imports from Iran.