TEHRAN, Iran, Mar.24
Trend:
Iran's saffron production effected by lack of direct access to foreign markets said a board member of the Iranian National Saffron Council.
"Insufficient farmer's training and lack of direct access to big foreign markets are major obstacles in saffron production and export. The increase of production costs is the result of insufficient training and the lack of updating new knowledge and information that has reduced the quantity and quality of agricultural products including saffron," said Ali Hosseini, Trend reports citing ILNA.
He went on to say that the indirect bulk export of agricultural products is another obstacle that prevents production development, for example, China and India are the biggest customers of Iran's saffron but a considerable amount of these products are exported to these countries indirectly in bulk.
"Indirect export of saffron is usually done by dealers and smugglers. Statistics from the customs indicate the 35 percent increase in Iran's saffron export in recent months, but it's not good news since it's done indirectly," Hosseini stressed.
"Some of the merchants would sell saffron to provide foreign currency revenue for import of more profitable commodities so they would sell saffron with the price lower than the global market rate. All the following obstacles need to be resolved or the saffron market would not flourish without private sector help," he pointed out.