According to Mohammad Bakeri, an official with Mazandaran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, cement and dairy products were the main commodities exported from the northern Iranian province during the month under review, Financial Tribune reported.
The province imported 385,000 tons of commodities during the same period, mainly including barley and field corn, the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development's news service (News.mrud.ir) reported.
A total of 100,000 tons of kiwis have been exported from Iran’s northern Mazandaran Province since the beginning of the current fiscal year (March 21), registering a twofold increase compared with last year’s corresponding period, Abdollah Mohajer, the head of Mazandaran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, said recently.
Mohajer added that 80,000 tons of the total figure (80%) were exported to India through Chabahar Port in southern Iran.
Iraq, Afghanistan and Central Asian Countries are traditional customers of Iranian kiwis, IRNA reported.
The Iranian province accounts for 180,000 tons of Iran’s total kiwi output of 220,000 tons; i.e. 81.81%. There are around 8,000 hectares of kiwi farms in the country and Mazandaran accounts for 6,500 hectares.
“With around 12,400 hectares of land under cultivation and more than 362,000 tons of harvest per year, Iran is considered the world’s fourth biggest kiwi producer,” Mohammad Ali Tahmasebi, deputy agriculture minister for horticultural affairs, said.
The province exported 60,000 tons of kiwis worth $90 million during the last Iranian year (March 2018-19).
Mazandaran also exported 65,000 tons of oranges during the same period.
The province is home to 470,000 hectares of agronomical and horticultural farms producing 7 million tons of agricultural products annually.
The province’s major agro products include rice, kiwi, citrus fruits, flowers, plants, chicken, dairy and fishery products.
“Mazandaran exported 60,000 tons of citrus fruits since the beginning of the current Iranian year,” the head of Mazandaran Agricultural Jihad Organization said last week.
“Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea littoral states, Russia and India are the province’s main export destinations,” Azizollah Shahidifar also told IRNA.
He expects Mazandaran’s total citrus exports to reach 120,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian year (March 19, 2020).
According to the official, the province exported 58,000 tons of citrus fruits last year (March 2018-19).
Shahidifar said 2.7 million tons of citrus fruits are produced in Mazandaran per year, 1.6 million of which are Thomson navel oranges.
Overall, citrus fruit 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 tons, Mehr News Agency reported.
Akbarkhani believes proper marketing should be carried out for exporting the surplus or domestic demand should increase.
To that end, he believes infrastructures need to be put in place and transportation and logistics should be taken into consideration, while Iran's commercial attaches should engage in negotiations for selling the surplus crops.
More than 110,000 hectares of land go under citrus cultivation in Mazandaran, which meet nearly 50% of domestic demand. Around 2.5 million tons are harvested there every year.