BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 7. Iran’s pomegranate production is expected to grow by 1.7 percent this Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024), compared to the previous year (March 20, 2023 through March 20, 2023), Director-General of the Tropical and Subtropical Fruit Bureau of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Jihad Zahra Jalili Moqaddam, Trend reports.
According to Jalili Moqaddam, 1.22 million tons of pomegranates are expected to be taken from 91,000 hectares of pomegranate orchards in the country.
In the previous year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), about 1.2 million tons of pomegranates were taken from 90,000 hectares of pomegranate orchards in the country, she added.
Iran is the third-largest pomegranate producer in the world, after India and China. The harvest season for pomegranates in Iran is mainly in the second half of the year, from September to March.
Most of the pomegranates grown in Iran are consumed domestically, and only a small portion is exported. Last year, Iran exported 21,300 tons of pomegranates worth $8.55 million. This was a 12 percent increase in value and a 20 percent increase in volume compared to the year before.
In the first six months of this year, Iran exported 347,000 tons of pomegranates worth $155,000. Iranian pomegranate was exported to six countries (Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Turkmenistan, the UAE, and Oman).
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