Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea littoral states, Russia and India are the province’s export destinations, Azizollah Shahidifar told IRNA.
He expects Mazandaran’s total citrus exports to reach 120,000 tons by the end of the current year (March 19, 2020).
According to Shahidifar, the province exported 58,000 tons of citrus fruits last year (March 2018-19), Financial Tribune reported.
“Mazandaran produces 2.7 million tons of citrus fruits annually, 1.6 million of which are Thomson navel oranges,” Shahidifar said.
Citrus production in Iran will reach about 3.5 million tons by the end of the current year, according to managing director of Orchards Owners Union, Sadra Akbarkhani.
Accordingly, the country would have a citrus production surplus of 1 million ton, Mehr News Agency reported.
Akbarkhani believes proper marketing should be carried out for exporting the surplus, or domestic demand should increase.
To this end, he believes infrastructures need to be put in place and transportation and logistics should be taken into consideration, as Iran's commercial attaches should engage in negotiations for selling the surplus crops.
More than 110,000 hectares of land go under the cultivation of citrus fruit in Mazandaran, which meet nearly 50% of domestic demand. About 2.5 million tons are harvested there every year.
Mazandaran is home to 460,000 hectares of farmland producing about 6 million tons of agro products annually. Over 10% of value-added in Iran's agriculture sector is generated in Mazandaran Province.