TEHRAN- Production of dates in Iran has reached 1.5 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 19, 2020), registering a 20-percent rise from that of the previous year, IRNA reported, quoting the head of National Association of Iranian Dates (NAID).

Mohsen Rashid Farokhi underlined the increase in rainfalls and favorable weather conditions as the major factors that contributed to the increase in the production of dates this year.

The official said despite the good harvest, the farmers are facing difficulties for selling their products in foreign markets.

He cited the government’s ban on date exports and interference in the pricing process over the past year as some of the issues that hurt the export of the product and have become a concern for producers and exporters.

“The price of dates is dependent on the supply and demand and the government should not price it, because such pricing will not be economically viable for producers and exporters,” he explained.

According to the official, currently Iranian dates are being exported to India, Southeast Asia, CIS countries, Eurasia, Russia and Europe.

Farokhi further noted that last year (March 2018-March 2019), over 300,000 tons of dates worth $400 million were exported to other countries.

Every year, up to 1.2 million tons of various types of dates are produced in 203,763 hectares of land in Iran, making the country the second largest producer in terms of production and area under cultivation and the fifth largest exporter.

EF/MA