Iran Exports Tea to 12 Countries in Q1
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – The spokesman of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) says that Iran has exported tea to 12 countries during the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20).
Rouhollah Latifi announced that over 575 tons of tea worth $493,785 was exported during the three-month period.
The official has stated that 75 percent of the payment to the tea farmers will be made by the tea factories and the other 25 percent is paid by the government.
Latifi said Iraq has been the main destination for Iran’s tea exports in the first quarter by purchasing 183 tons of tea worth $237,500. He added that Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Germany, India, Tajikistan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Turkey were the other major destinations for Iran’s tea, respectively.
On the amount of imported tea, he said the country has imported tea from 14 countries and India by selling 8,000 tons of tea worth $38m topped the list of exporters to Iran.
Larifi added that Sri Lanka by selling tea worth over $13m and the UAE with selling tea worth over $11m ranked second and third among tea exporting countries to Iran.
He further said the statistics of the customs administration show that the volume of Iran’s imported tea was between 60 million to 70 million tons last year. He then pointed to the significance of Iran’s position in the tea trade, adding that tea is a commodity for all walks of the society and it is the most widely consumed drinking in the world after water and is one of the most money-making agro products. Latifi noted that if one takes a look at international trade statistics, he can notice that four countries account for 45 percent of tea production and 60 percent of tea exports.
He added that India, China, Kenya and Sri Lanka are the major tea exporting countries and most of tea products in China and India have domestic consumption and Kenya and Sri Lanka export the most amount of tea in the world.
Meanwhile earlier Head of Iran’s Tea Organization (ITO) Habib Jahansaz has said that tea production in the country is expected to rise 10 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021).
Tea harvest season starts in farmlands across the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran in early May.
More than 55,000 families grow tea over 28,000 hectares of farmland in the two provinces, accounting for 90 percent of the country’s total tea production.
In late December 2019, Jahansaz said Iran exported over 4,000 tons of tea to the neighboring countries, in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).
Iran exports tea to India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.
