The tea harvest season in Iran has come to an end. This year, 108,000 tons worth 2.03 trillion rials ($50 million) were purchased from local farmers, registering a 23% decline compared with last year, the head of Iran Tea Organization said.
Mohammad Vali Rouzbehan blames unfavorable weather conditions and low precipitation levels for the decline in production.
“From this amount of fresh tea leaves, 24,000 tons of processed tea have been produced,” he was quoted as saying by Young Journalists Club.
Last year (March 2016-17), the government purchased more than 139,000 tons of fresh tea leaves, worth 2.34 trillion rials ($62 million) from farmers, of which 31,200 tons of dried tea were produced.
Tea is cultivated in Iran’s northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran where 50,000 families earn their living from tea farming on more than 25,000 hectares of fields.
About 95% of tea orchards in Iran are rain-fed.
About 110,000 tons of dried tea worth between $550-600 million (based on global prices and if it was all imported) are consumed in Iran annually.
