The government has set guaranteed prices for tea purchases at 46,000 rials ($0.28) for top-quality tea leaves and 33,000 rials ($0.20) for other varieties of leaves for this year’s harvest, which show a 27.7% and 50% increase respectively compared with last year’s prices, according to the head of Iran Tea Organization.
Every year, the government buys strategic crops, including tea as well as wheat, sugarbeet, barley, cotton boll and oilseeds among others, from local farmers at guaranteed prices to control prices in the domestic market and fill its strategic reserves.
“Purchases will begin toward the end of April. Farmers are pleased with the prices announced by the government this year. Moreover, tea factories can purchase tea at higher prices based on quality, so there is also competition in the market,” Habibollah Jahansaz was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official added that, at present, local tea production meets 30% of domestic demand.
“Some 50,000 to 60,000 farmers earn their living through tea cultivation in Iran’s northern provinces and 180 factories are active in the purchasing, processing and selling of the product,” he said.
Tea is considered a strategic product in Gilan and Mazandaran, Iran’s tea cultivating provinces, with the significant effect it has on the rural and agricultural economy of the region.
Last year’s tea harvest season ended in October 2019 and the government purchased a total of 126,753 tons of green tea leaves from local farmers for 3.43 trillion rials ($30.66 million).
“About 28,519 tons of processed tea were derived from this amount of purchases, showing an 11% rise compared with the similar period of last year,” Jahansaz told Mehr News Agency.
The official attributes the growth in production to favorable weather conditions, government support in granting cheap loans and increasing guaranteed purchase prices.
Iran's Tea Association puts the domestic demand for tea at 120,000 tons per year. Iran consumes about 5% of the total annual world tea production.
The crop undergoes three harvests a year: the spring harvest that starts in late April, the second in summer begins early June and the last one is in autumn and starts late September.
Iranian tea is exported as well and its main destinations are India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Canada, Australia, Spain, the Czech Republic and Georgia.
