Mazandaran Province exported $300 million worth of goods during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22), registering a 34% growth compared with the previous year’s corresponding period, according to a local official.
Dairy products, cement, mineral products, paper, fish feed and seafood were among the main exports from the province bordering the Caspian Sea.
Iraq, Turkey, the UAE, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan were the main export destinations, IRNA reported.
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.
The province is a major producer and exporter of citrus fruit.
“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 warehouses with a capacity of 381 tons of such fruits in the province. This has increased exports and reduced the amount of annual fruit wastage,” Hadi Izadi, a local official, has been quoted as saying by IRNA.
Mazandaran’s citrus fruit orchards stretch across 112,000 hectares, of which 110,000 hectares 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, located in northern Iran, 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 terms of weight and value respectively.
According to Hossein Ali Qovanlou, a local official, 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.
