No Ban on Iranian Tea Exports

Earlier, in a letter to IRICA chief Foroud Asgari, Minister of Industries Mohammad Shariatmadari had announced that the export of tea, in addition to different kinds of paper, tissue, milk powder, infant formula and butter in packages weighing more than 500 grams are banned as of Aug. 23 until further notice with the aim of “balancing the domestic market”, Mehr News Agency reported.

Tea is cultivated in Iran’s northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran on farms spread over 25,000 hectares.

Habibollah Jahansaz, the head of Iran Tea Organization, reacted to the letter by saying that Tea Organization, Ministry of Agriculture and members of parliament representing Gilan and Mazandaran, as well as their governor generals, have expressed serious concerns about the negative effects of the new regulation on the economy of the two northern provinces and 60,000 households who earn a living through tea cultivation, Financial Tribune reported.

“The Ministry of Industries, Mines and Trade officials then announced that there had been a mistake and the regulation was meant to stop the reexport of imported tea and not export of domestically produced tea,” he added.