TEHRAN – Some 1,632 tons of medicinal herbs worth €15 million have been exported from the country since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2019), deputy head of the Forests, Range, and Watershed Management Organization, has said.

The exports were made from 16 provinces to Afghanistan, India, European Union member states and the Persian Gulf littoral countries, IRNA quoted Tarahom Behzad as saying on Monday.

Iran is a rich country in terms of biodiversity and plant species, enjoying 11 climates out of 15 world-known climates, he said.

According to botanists and researchers, the number of plant species in Iran is 8,425 species that are scattered over 85 million hectares of the country, he added.

Pointing to the natural resources sector’s exports in the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018), he noted that about 840 tons of medicinal herbs were exported to EU member states and Arabic countries.

He stated that last year, export of medicinal herbs was 1,440 tons, announcing that during the first ten months of this year, exports reached 1,632 tons.

Asafetida, galbanum, dorema, tragacanth, truffle were among the herbal species exported to different countries, he noted.

He went on to conclude that research has shown that more than 2,300 species of herbs in Iran have medicinal, aromatic and cosmetic properties, 1,738 of which are endemic species.

According to the World Health Organization, the global market for herbal products is $60 billion annually. About 25 percent of medicines worldwide are made of herbs. Among 252 important medicines of WHO, 11 percent are exclusively produced from medicinal plants.

FB/MG