TEHRAN- Iran exports honey to 22 countries around the world, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC) stated.

Arsalan Qasemi put the country’s value of honey export at $5.6 million.

He named China, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Germany, Britain, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, and Lebanon as the most important export destinations of Iranian honey.

According to the latest census of the country's apiaries by the Agriculture Ministry, the production of honey is 136,000 tons in the country, a board member of the Iran Beekeepers Association announced.

Mohammad Fekri said that with producing 30,000 tons of honey per annum, West Azarbaijan province supplies more than 22 percent of the country's annual honey, East Azarbaijan, Fars, Ardebil and Kermanshah provinces come next, and about 43 percent of the honey is produced in other provinces.

As stated by the chairman of the Animal Science Research Institute of Iran (ASRI), Iran ranks third in the world in the number of apiaries.

Mokhtar Mohajer also said that Iran's rank in honey production is changing and moving between fourth and sixth place in the world.

Based on the data released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iran is the third-largest producer of honey in the world.

The chairman of the Animal Science Research Institute has said that the amount of honey production in the country should be increased by three to four kilograms per colony.

Mohajer said, “According to the Seventh National Development Plan (2022-2026), the amount of honey production should be increased by at least three to four kilograms per colony according to the diversity of plants and the area of pastures that we have in the country”.

He announced that 8,300 kilograms of royal jelly, 406 tons of pollen, 2,536 tons of beeswax, 247 tons of propolis, and 3,917 grams of bee venom are produced annually in the country.

MA