TEHRAN- The value of Iran’s exports of date rose 5.3 percent during the first 11 months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021-February 19, 2022), as compared to the same period of time in the past year, an official with Agriculture Ministry announced.

Zahra Jalili-Moqadam, the director-general of the ministry’s office of tropical and subtropical fruits, also said that Iran exported over 292,000 tons of dates during the 11-month period of this year, which was 4.5 percent more than the amount in the same period of time in the last year.

As stated by the head of National Association of Iranian Dates (NAID), there is the capacity for the export of $1 billion of dates from the country in a year.

Rashid Farokhi had said that despite the drought and low rainfall, the annual date production is anticipated to reach 1.2 million tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

Every year, 30 percent of the product is exported and the rest is consumed in the domestic market, he added.

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.

MA/MA