TEHRAN – Tea production in Iran is expected to reach 130,000 tons in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 20, 2021), Head of Iran's Tea Organization (ITO) Habib Jahansaz said.

According to the official, so far 103,395 tons of fresh tea leaves worth four trillion rials (about $95.23 million) have been purchased from the country’s farmers in the northern Gilan and Mazandaran provinces, IRNA reported.

Noting that over 85 percent of the government dues to the farmers have been paid, Jahansaz said: “so far 3.4 trillion rials (about $80.95 million) has been paid to the farmers and the rest will be paid gradually.”

Some 75 percent of the payment to the tea farmers will be made by the tea factories and the other 25 percent is paid by the government, he said.

The official stated that 58,702 tons, equivalent to 56 percent of the purchased green leaves, is of first-class quality, and 45,332 tons, equivalent to 44 percent, is second-class.

Jahansaz put the amount of dried tea production at 23,260 tons so far and said: "This amount has increased by one percent compared to the same period last year."

Tea harvest season starts in farmlands across the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran in early May.

More than 55,000 families grow tea over 28,000 hectares of farmland in the two provinces, accounting for 90 percent of the country’s total tea production.

In late December 2019, Jahansaz named Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Afghanistan as the top destinations for Iranian tea exports.

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

EF/MA