A total of 213,000 tons of chocolate and pastry worth $189 million were exported from Iran during the first half of the current Iranian year (March 21-Sept. 22), around 66,000 tons worth $75 million of which were made in East Azarbaijan Province.
“From Iran’s 563 chocolate and pastry production factories, 125 are located in East Azarbaijan. Their production capacity is 417,845 tons per year,” Mohammad Naqi Honarbar, a local official, was quoted as saying.
The northeastern province’s products are exported to 51 countries, he added.
Honarbar noted that Iran exports chocolate and pastry to 75 countries, mainly to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, the UAE, the Ivory Coast, the US and several European countries.
In 2020, Iran was ranked among the top 30 exporters of chocolate and pastry in the world with $450 million.
The country’s main production hubs after East Azarbaijan, he added, are Khorasan Razavi, Tehran, Isfahan, Qazvin, Qom and Yazd provinces.
The official noted that East Azarbaijan alone accounts for 40-55% of the country’s annual chocolate and pastry production and exports respectively.
Exports stood at $475 million in fiscal 2020-21, registering an 18% decline compared to $580 million in the previous year, according to the Associations of Iranian Confectionery Producers.
Iraq, Afghanistan and Persian Gulf countries were Iran's main export destination.
East European countries, Russia, China and the US were other export destinations, ISNA reported.
Iran's exports of chocolate and pastry in the fiscal 2018-19 stood at $800 million, according to Kaveh Zargaran, Iran Chamber of Commerce official.
He added that Iran annually produces 1.7 million tons of pastry and chocolate, while the nameplate capacity stands at 2.4 million tons per year.
The city of Tabriz in East Azarbaijan Province is Iran’s chocolate and biscuit production hub and arguably that of the entire Middle East. About half of Iran’s biscuits and chocolates are produced in this northeastern city.
According to a board member of Iranian Confectionery Industries Union, Fereydoun Doroudi, all the investments in this industry have been made by the private sector.
Pastry and chocolate account for 30-40% of Iran’s total food exports, according to Secretary of Trade Promotion Organization of Iran's Pastry, Chocolate and Cereal Products Desk Gholamreza Sabz-Ali.
About 70% of the machinery used in Iran's chocolate and pasty industry are supplied domestically.
