A major two-phase industrial project worth €20 million has become operational in Urmia, West Azarbaijan Province, with the second phase coming on stream on Thursday.
According to Hassan Hatami, the supervisor of West Azarbaijan Industrial Towns, the project, which includes tomato paste (first phase) and fruit concentrate production (second phase) plants, has been implemented within three years with 100% financing made by German investors, IRNA reported.
The fruit concentrate plant was officially inaugurated on Thursday in a ceremony attended by Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mehdi Sadeqi Niyaraki.
Hatami noted that the plant, which is the largest of its kind in the northwestern city, has created around 400 direct and indirect jobs, and is expected to meet domestic demand while continuing exports to neighboring countries.
The first phase came on stream in late 2019, with a production capacity of 600 tons of tomato paste per day. About 110 personnel are working in the plant.
According to Hatami, West Azarbaijan Province produces 1.2 million tons of fruits per year and is a major fruit production hub in Iran.
The northwestern province borders Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan's Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, making it a great place for foreign investment to produce in Iran and export to regional countries.
Every day, a total of 3,000 tons of apples are exported from West Azarbaijan Province, according to the head of the provincial agricultural organization.
“Our main export destinations are Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Russia and some other neighboring countries,” Rasoul Jalili was also quoted by IRNA as saying.
Jalili named high tariffs in some export destinations, mandatory foreign currency repatriation, lack of subsidies and sufficient export incentives, and a shortage of refrigerated trucks as the main obstacles facing apple exports from West Azarbaijan.
“Problems associated with apple production include non-industrial methods of harvesting, high production costs, climate change and cold spells, scarcity of financial facilities for orchard renovation and non-cultivation of new varieties. These handicaps must be eliminated if we are to boost production in line with better quality in the years to come,” he said.
West Azarbaijan produces more than 6 million tons of agricultural products on over 800,000 hectares of rain-fed and irrigated land every year. Some 230,000 people earn their living through farms and orchards.
A total of 289,000 tons of non-oil products worth $347 million were exported from the province during the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 20).
According to Superintendent of West Azarbaijan Customs Administration Tohid Azarbod, the exports registered a 33% decline in tonnage and a 21% drop in value compared with last year's corresponding period.
He blamed the declines on the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia are the main export destinations of goods exported from the northwestern province.
West Azarbaijan borders Turkey, Iraq and Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic.
The province trades through five land border crossings, namely Poldasht, Bazargan, Razi, Sero and Tamarchin, Mehr News Agency reported.
