TEHRAN- The head of Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) said that the organization has set up a special task force on the trade of saffron, the TPO portal published on Monday.

Underlining the significance of saffron in Iran’s exports, Hamid Zadboum said that TPO has had supporting the exports of this product through offering different incentives a top agenda of its activities since the Iranian calendar year 1380 (March 2001- March 2002).

The special task force held its meeting at the place of TPO in the presence of the representatives of Agriculture Ministry, Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran (ISIRI), Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Health Ministry, Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI), Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA), Iran Chamber of Cooperatives (ICC), National Saffron Council, and the Organization for Protection of Consumers and Producers (OPCP). 

About 85 percent to 90 percent of Iran’s saffron is produced in the northeastern provinces of North Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi and the eastern province of South Khorasan.

Based on the data released by Iranian Vice Presidency for Science and Technology, Iran earns some $500 million annually by exporting medicinal herbs, of which about $350 million is related to saffron and the rest is the share of other medicinal herbs.

MA/MA