Tea production decreases in Iran

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 23/ Trend, N. Umid/

Third harvest of tea has stopped by farmers, head of the Iranian association of tea farmers Iraj Hoosemi said, Jahanesanat daily reported.

Failure of preparation works before production season due to the poverty of farmers and drought led to stopping third harvest of green tea leaf, he said.

"Collected green tea leaf amount during first harvest was acceptable, but it was lesser compared to previous years," Hoosemi added.

Collected green tea leaf volume decreased by 40 percent compared to last year's second harvest.

Amount of green tea leaf during third harvest hardly hits 10 thousand tons, while it had been predicted to be harvested 40 thousand tons of green tea leaf.

"Inappropriate pricing policies and mismanagement, and disregard towards tea industry are the main reasons for this unfavorable situation," Hoosemi said.

According to the reports, 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.

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 is 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.