BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 27. Iran's saffron exports decreased by 60 percent in the first month of the current Iranian year (March 21 through April 20, 2022), while by 19 percent in the second month (April 21 through May 21, 2022), compared to the same periods last Iranian year, the deputy chariman of the National Saffron Council of Iran Gholamreza Miri told Mehr News Agency, Trend reports.
The official stressed that if the situation continues, Iran's saffron exports will fall sharply.
According to Miri, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) has set a starting price of $1,598 per kilogram for saffron exports. However, exporters sell 1 kg of saffron for $1,300. As a result, exporters have to buy $300 on the black market and sell it to banks under the NIMA exchange rate.
"The policy of selling the currency obtained from exports to banks under the NIMA exchange rate is not unequivocally welcomed. Exporters have to sell $1 to banks under the NIMA exchange rate for about 260,000 rials. However, the price of $1 on the black market is about 320,000 rials," he noted.
Iran exported more than 228 tons of saffron worth about $228 million over the last Iranian year (March 21, 2021 through March 20, 2022). Saffron exports decreased by 19.3 percent in value and 19 percent in volume compared to the preceding Iranian year (March 20, 2020 through March 20, 2021).
So, Iran exported 325 tons of saffron worth about $190 million in the preceding Iranian year.
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