Iran exported $2bn worth of agri-food products until September: Report

The value of Iran’s farming exports exceeded $2 billion in the first five months of the Iranian calendar year which started in late March.

Iran’s ministry of agriculture said on Tuesday that dairy products accounted for the largest portion of agri-food exports between late March and early September, when the country exported around $250 million worth of such products.

An official from the ministry said vegetables shipments topped the list of exports in terms of volume with nearly 734,000 tons (nearly 810,000 American tons) sold over the five-month period and mostly to the neighboring countries.

Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh said exports of various vegetables generated more than $232 million while tomato, whose exports were categorized in a different section, created more than $190 million in export revenues.

Pistachio, a main Iranian export item, came third in the list in terms of volume of shipments, as more than 21,000 tons of the nut were exported between March and September, generating over nearly $178 million in revenues.

The list of 12 most popular Iranian farming products exported to other countries and released by the ministry of agriculture included saffron, onion, garlic, date, grapes, potato, apple, egg, chicken and tea.

Bakhshandeh said agri-food exports were on rise despite sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran which seek to undermine the country’s economy.

He said farming exports accounted for 10.97 percent of Iran’s non-oil exports, which mostly covers petrochemicals and products derived from oil, over the past months.  

The data comes as Iran reported record highs in agri-food exports in the last calendar year ending in March 2019.

Bakhshandeh said that nearly seven million tons of farming products were exported to other countries last year, generating nearly $6.4 billion in revenues.