Azerbaijan, Baku, July 18/ Trend N. Umid/
About 6000 hectares of Iran's tea farms have been destroyed due to mismanagement, secretary of the Iranian association of tea farmers Nosrat Ramazani said, ILNA reported.
Some 46000 tons of green tea leaf which were collected during the first and second harvest have been purchased from farmers up to now, whereas just 2 percent of the worth has been paid to them, Iranian media quoted the head of the Iranian association of tea farmers Iraj Hoosemi as saying.
Delay on payment by government has occurred repeatedly during last years.
Government had increased the price for purchasing green tea leaves from farmers by around 30 percent last month.
Iran's annual tea consumption amounts some 110,000 tons. Smuggled tea share a high part of tea import to Iran.
According to the reports, some 70 to 80 percent of tea industry factories in Iran are not working.
Iran imported over 41,000 tons of tea, worth $200 million, in the first nine months of the last solar year (March 20-December 20, 2012), ISNA reported, citing data released by the Iranian Customs Administration.
According to the reports, Iran will import 30 million kilograms of tea from India in the next two years.
Iran has assured India it will include Indian tea in the top category of imported items.
India annually exports 12 million kilograms of tea to Iran, which accounts for 6 percent of its total tea exports.