TEHRAN – Tea production in Iran is expected to rise 10 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20), Head of Iran's Tea Organization (ITO) Habib Jahansaz said.

According to the official, so far 53,251 tons of fresh tea leaves worth 2.36 trillion rials (about $56.19 million) have been purchased from the country’s farmers in the northern Gilan and Mazandaran provinces.

So far 763 billion rials (about $18.16 million) has been paid to the farmers which is 32 percent of their total money, he added.

Jahansaz 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.

The official estimated the amount of dried tea production at 12,000 tons so far and said: "This amount has increased by nine percent compared to the same period last year."

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).

According to Jahansaz, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Afghanistan were among the top destinations for Iranian tea exports.

Iran exports tea to India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

EF/MA