TEHRAN, Iran, Oct. 4
Trend:
Iran's Agriculture Ministry has taken the measure to ban kiwi export until October 7 to prevent the export of unripe fruit, said the Vice-President of Exporters and Importers Association of Iran, Trend reports citing ILNA.
Some exporters have ignored the restriction and exported kiwi by hiding it behind other products, while smugglers illegally trade fruit via the Iran border in bulk, Sadrodin Niavarani noted.
Mazandaran province, located along the Caspian Sea coastline, is Iran’s biggest producer and exporter of kiwifruit. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Central Asian countries are traditional customers of Iranian kiwifruits.
Mazandaran shipped 342,000 tons of kiwifruit and oranges worth around $200 million from March 21, 2019, to March 20, 2020.
Iran exports its agricultural products to Japan, Australia, Russia, Iraq, UAE, UK, the Netherlands, India, Ukraine, Poland, Lebanon, Estonia, and Canada.
Fruit exporters are facing problems such as poor transportation and struggling to return export revenues due to sanctions against Iran. Exporters have to pay a 5 percent fee to foreign exchange offices to return their revenues.