TEHRAN (Iran News) – Exports of medical, edible herbs reach $49m in Q1. Iran exported 29,000 tons of medicinal, edible, decorative and industrial herbs and plants valued at over $49 million in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-July 21), a senior official at Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said.
According to Mahmoud Bazari, director-general of TPO’s Export Coordination Office for agro crops and processing industry products, saffron accounted for 53 percent of the total value of the exports with 52 tons of the products worth $26 million exported in the first quarter of the current year.
Some 4,000 tons of teas worth four million dollars were also exported during this period, which compared to the same period last year increased by 728 percent in value and 642 percent in weight.
Saffron, licorice root and extract, cut flowers and flower buds, as well as other ornamental plants, medicinal plants, tea, and other products including fodder plants and industrial herbs, were among the items exported in this sector.
China, UAE, Spain, Pakistan, Iraq, and Germany were among the major export markets for these products in the mentioned period.
Based on the Iranian Vice Presidency for Science and Technology data, Iran earns some $500 million annually by exporting medicinal herbs, of which about $350 million is related to saffron and the rest is the share of other medicinal herbs.
Iran is one of the world’s top saffron producers and over 90 percent of its production is exported to foreign destinations.
Iranian saffron farmers exported 324.589 tons of products worth over $190 million to 60 foreign destinations during the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20), according to the Spokesman of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Rouhollah Latifi.
Based on a multilateral memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) and three of the country’s banks in early October 2020, 10 trillion rials (about $238.09 million) was allocated for supporting the saffron industry.
