Exports from Mazandaran Province stood at 447,000 tons worth $134.72 million in the current fiscal year’s first six months (March 21-Sept. 22), registering a 27% and 45% growth in weight and value respectively year-on-year, according to a local official, Ali Yousefi-Manesh.
Cement, minerals, kerosene, crude oil, paper and metals, as well as dairy, wooden, plastic and food products, were the main export products, IRNA reported.
Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iraq and Romania were the main destinations.
The exports were mainly shipped from Noshahr, Amirabad, Fereydounkenar, Sari and Amol customs terminals of the Caspian province.
Meanwhile, 1.42 million tons of goods worth $613.99 million were imported to Iran via Mazandaran Province during the same period, registering a 6% and 43% YOY growth in terms of weight and value respectively.
Barley, corn, soybeans, animal and vegetable fat and oil, wheat, wood and wooden objects, petroleum coke, cardboard paper and machineries were the main imports.
Russia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Turkey and Turkmenistan were the main exporters.
According to the official, the total commercial capacity of the ports of northern Mazandaran Province stands at 13 million tons, of which Amirabad accounts for 7.5 million tons, Noshahr 4.5 million tons and Fereydounkenar 1 million tons.
Mazandaran Province’s foreign trade stood at 3.45 million tons worth $1.09 billion in the fiscal 2020-21, of which exports accounted for 745,000 tons worth $181 million and imports accounted for 2.7 million tons worth $917 million.
Notably, a total of 250,000 tons of citrus fruits were exported from Mazandaran Province during the last Iranian year, showing a 60% rise compared with the year before, according to the manager of the Horticultural Affairs Department with the province’s Agricultural Organization.
“Our main export destinations over the period were Russia and Iraq,” Hadi Izadi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that last year’s citrus fruit production in Mazandaran stood at 2.7 million tons, which was 10% more than the previous year.
“At present, there are 500 sorting units with a capacity to handle 250,000 tons of citrus fruits, 119 cold storage facilities with a 473-ton capacity and 148 warehouse units with a capacity to store 381 tons of such fruits in the province. This has led to the increase of exports and reduced the amount of fruit that perishes and goes to waste every year,” he added.
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 Hossein Negahdar, the deputy head of Mazandaran Agricultural Organization, the northern province accounts for around 23% of the country’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 a local official, Hosseinali Qovanlou, food industries account for 42% of the province’s production units, which have thrived despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mazandaran is the top producer of horticultural products in Iran.
