Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 11
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iranian agriculture ministry expects the country’s farmers to produce about 85,000 tons of olive over the current fiscal year (ending March 20).
Ahmad Mostakhdemi, an official with agriculture ministry, has forecasted that the olive output would drop, compared to the preceding year due to conditions caused by cold weather, IRNA news agency reported.
Ahmad Mostakhdemi said that about 30 percent of the output will be used for producing olive oil and the rest will be canned.
The official added that the country produced about 102,000 tons of olive over the last fiscal year.
He further criticized officials over their failure to impose ban on importing olive oil into the country, adding that Iran imported about 5,700 tons of olive over the last year.
Predicting that the amount of imported olive oil would reach 8,000 tons this year, he estimated that Iranians consume about 12,000 tons of olive oil in the country.