A total of 86,000 tons of goods were exported from Mazandaran Province during the first month of the current Iranian year (March 21-April 20), registering a 45% rise compared with the corresponding month of the year before, according to Mohammad Bakeri, a local official.
Cement, minerals and dairy products were the main goods exported during the period, the news portal of the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development reported.
The official added that 279,187 tons of goods were imported into the province during the same period to register a 187% year-on-year rise.
The imports mainly included corn, barley, wheat, edible oil, petroleum coke and metallurgy products.
Bakeri noted that 10,000 tons of foreign goods were transited from Mazandaran during the month.
Amirabad Port handled the highest volume of foreign transit.
Mazandaran has three ports, namely Amirabad, Noshahr and Fereydounkenar, with the first being the most active in the region.
Amirabad is the largest port facility on the Caspian shore and the third largest in Iran.
The total commercial capacity of the ports of northern Mazandaran Province stands at 13 million tonsو of which Amirabad accounts for 7.5 million tons, Noshahr 4.5 million tons and Fereydunkenar 1 million tons.
According to Director General of Amirabad Ports and Maritime Organization Mohammad Ali Asl-Saeedipour, its location along the International North-South Transportation Corridor makes transportation through Amirabad Port safe, attractive, cost-effective and much faster than alternative routes.
Mazandaran is a major producer and exporter of citrus fruit.
“At present, there are 500 sorting units with a capacity of 250,000 tons of citrus fruits, 119 cold storage facilities with a 473-ton capacity and 148 warehouse units with a capacity of 381 tons of such fruits in the province. This has increased exports and reduced the amount of fruit that goes to waste every year,” Hadi Izadi, a local official, has been quoted as saying by IRNA.
Mazandaran’s citrus fruit orchards stretch across 112,000 hectares, 110,000 hectares of which currently bear fruit. Out of the total figure, close to 80,000 hectares and 30,000 hectares have undergone orange and tangerine cultivation and on the rest lemons, limes and bitter oranges are produced.
According to the deputy head of Mazandaran Agricultural Organization, Hossein Negahdar, the northern province accounts for around a quarter of Iran’s total employment in the agriculture sector.
Mazandaran Province, located in northern Iran along the Caspian Sea, cultivates 72 kinds of agricultural products, the annual yields of which amount to nearly 7 million tons. The province accounts for only 2.5% of Iran’s arable land, yet produces 7% and 11% of the country’s agricultural products in weight and value respectively per year.
According to Hosseinali Qovanlou, a local official, food industries account for 42% of the province’s production units.
With 150,000 hectares of orchards, Mazandaran is the top producer of horticultural products in Iran.
