BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 7. Iranian banks have issued loans worth 510 billion rials (about $12.1 million) to tea farmers in Gilan and Mazandaran provinces of the country, from the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022) to February 6, 2023, Chairman of the Iran Tea Organization, Habib Jahansaz said, Trend reports citing IRNA.
According to Jahansaz, the mentioned amount of loans has been issued to more than 9,000 tea farmers. As a result, more than 6,300 hectares of tea plantations have been restored so far.
He added that there are no restrictions on providing loans for restoration of tea plantations.
Commenting on Iran's tea export, the chairman said that on average 6,000-7,000 tons of tea are exported from Iran per year. As a result, over $33 million in revenue is generated.
Jahansaz also pointed out that so far, 95 percent of the money for tea leaf purchased in last season has been paid to the farmers and the rest will be paid soon.
Meanwhile, a total of 116,317 tons of tea leaves worth 9.49 trillion rials (about $226 million) were purchased from tea farmers in Iran in the last harvesting season (April 21 through November 1, 2022). Of this, 26,171 tons of dry tea were produced within the country.
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