Mazandaran Province’s foreign trade hit $1.52 billion in the fiscal 2021-22 (ended March 20), registering a 53% growth year-on-year.
Exports stood at $278 million, 53% higher compared with the previous year, IRNA reported.
Dairy products, ice cream, cement, plastic products and kiwi were the main exported goods during the period.
Mazandaran exported goods reached 17 new destinations during the period, increasing the province's export destinations from 36 to 53 countries.
Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Iraq, Azerbaijan, the UAE and Turkey were the main destinations.
The province’s imports hit 2.89 million tons worth $1.24 billion during the same period, registering a 7% and 35% YOY growth in weight and value respectively.
Barley, feed corn, wheat, animal fat and oils, petroleum coke, wood and wooden boards and oilseeds were the main imported products during the period.
A total of 171,854 tons of goods worth $168.04 million were transited from the province during the period under review, registering a 221% and 166% YOY growth in weight and value respectively.
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, Nowshahr 4.5 million tons and Fereydunkenar 1 million tons.
The province 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 storing 381 tons of such fruits in the province. This has led to the increase of exports and has reduced the amount of fruit that perishes and goes to waste every year,” Had 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 Hossein Negahdar, the deputy head of Mazandaran Agricultural Organization, 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 annually produces 7% and 11% of the country’s agricultural products in weight and value respectively.
According to a local official, Hossein Ali Qovanlou, 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.
