TEHRAN- Iran exported 318,000 tons of dried fruits in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), an official with Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) announced.

Mahmoud Bazari, director-general of TPO’s Coordination Office for Development of Agro Products Export and Processing Industries, said that agricultural products and foodstuff account for 10 percent of Iran’s non-oil export, and dried fruits constitute 29 percent of the agricultural products and foodstuff export.

The acting head of Agriculture Ministry’s Economic Affairs Department Shahrokh Shajari has put Iran’s exports of the agricultural and foodstuff products at about 7.104 million tons worth $5.8 billion in the past Iranian calendar year.

In the previous year, over 6.941 million tons of the mentioned products worth $6.392 billion were also imported into the country, according to Shajari.

Also, the head of Tehran Fruit and Vegetable Traders Union has said his union is planning to export over two million tons of fruits in the current Iranian calendar year.

“This year, our total production will be 4.5 million tons, of which 2.5 million tons will be consumed domestically, and another two million is intended for export, and we are planning to export to Russia, Iraq, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan,” Mostafa Daraei-Nejad said.

Referring to the situation of the fruit and vegetable market, the official said: “There are about 67 items of fruits and vegetables in the market, none of which we lack. We have only 2.5 million tons of fruit production in Mazandaran province.”

MA/MA