A Chinese carpet company is claiming a new world record for the biggest one-piece rug ever made, using more than 3000 kg of New Zealand wool.
The giant hand-tufted rug covers more than 1000 square metres and took a team of 100 workers two months to finish.
It was made by the Beijing Jin Baohua Carpet Company for the Chinese capital's new International Convention Centre.
It will be a show piece for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) annual conference to be held in Beijing in November 2014.
The rug was produced without joints and transported and installed as one complete piece.
Farmer-owned strong wool promotion company Wools of New Zealand says it would take between 800 and 1000 ewes to produce that amount of wool.
Chairman Mark Shadbolt says the world record bid for the rug will help raise the profile of New Zealand carpet wool.
"The Guinness Book of Records is read by millions of people annually, so that's putting the presence of wool out there in front of the public," he says.
Beijing Jin Baohua Carpets also holds the existing record for a 729 square metre rug it made in 2009, also hand-woven from New Zealand wool.
