Tehran, Iran, Oct. 1
Trend:
Iranian tea farmers produced 104,000 tons of fresh tea leaves during the first six months of the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 21), the head of Iran Tea Organization said.
“Some 104,000 tons of fresh tea leaves worth $206 billion were produced during the two tea harvest seasons of spring and summer,” Habib Jahansaz said, ISNA reported on October 1.
The farmers in the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran are now busy with the third pick in fall and they are expected to pick 10,000 tons of fresh leaves, he added.
“So far, 23,000 tons of processed tea have been derived from this amount of fresh leaves,” Jahansaz said.
This indicates an increase compared to the same period last year, he said.
About 110,000 tons of dried tea, worth between $550 million and $600 million (based on global prices and if it was all imported), are consumed in Iran annually.
Close to 100,000 Iranian households earn their living, directly or indirectly, through tea production.
Tea is cultivated in northern Iran where 50,000 families earn their living from tea farming on more than 25,000 hectares of fields.
Close to 95 percent of tea orchards in Iran are rain-fed. About 110,000 tons of dried tea are consumed in Iran every year.
Iran imports tea from India, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Kenya.