TEHRAN - Head of Iran's Tea Organization (ITO) Habib Jahansaz said Iran has produced 28,500 tons of tea since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21) of which over 4000 tons were exported to the neighboring countries, IRNA reported.

According to Jahansaz, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Afghanistan were among the top destinations for Iranian tea exports.

The official further noted that the government has purchased about 126,700 tons of fresh tea leaves worth 4.34 trillion rials (about $103 million) from local farmers in the north of the country.

There are currently 25,500 hectares of tea plantation in northern Iran, according to Jahansaz.

Referring to the supply of tea in domestic and foreign markets, the official said since Iranian tea enjoys good quality, the demand for it inside the country has increased and foreign countries also keep buying the product.

Back in July, Jahansaz had said that the country’s tea exports were up for the first quarter of the year (March 21-July 22) despite U.S. sanctions that make it difficult to trade using conventional banking systems.

According to the official, 1,600 metric tons of the commodity worth over $2 million were exported from the country in the mentioned period.

Iran exports tea to India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, Jahansaz said.

EF/MA