Iran produced 7,100 tons of olive oil since the beginning of the current Iranian year on March 21, Rahmatollah Parichehr, the manager of “Olive Project” implemented by the Agriculture Ministry’s Horticulture Department, said on Tuesday.
According to the official, this year's production shows a 30% rise year-on-year, ILNA reported.
“More than 100,000 tons of olives were produced in the country during the period, 10,000 tons more than what we had initially predicted. This year we used about 45% of the olives cultivated in orchards to produce olive oil and the rest is pickled,” he said.
Per capita olive oil consumption in Iran currently stands at 180 grams per year, up from 135 grams last year. This is while in Europe the average amount is closer to 11 kilograms.
The Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22) has set the target of 200,000 tons per year in olive oil production.
Iran is ranked 14th in the world by the International Olive Council in terms of area under olive cultivation and 17th in terms of production
Iran is ranked 14th in the world by the International Olive Council in terms of area under olive cultivation and 17th in terms of production, the Agriculture Ministry’s head of the Expansion and Improvement of Olive Orchards Group, Mahmoud Emami, told Financial Tribune last year.
Emami noted that the average global per capita olive oil consumption is at 430 grams—about three times more than in Iran.
However, Iranians eat more olive in brine as, according to Emami, per capita consumption in Iran stands at 850 grams against 360 grams in the world.
“The quality of Iran’s olive and olive oil is unrivaled, because of the country’s distinctive climate. Olive tree is subtropical and so are most regions in Iran. Olive trees are exposed to direct sunlight for a prolonged period of time here, which is considered a comparative advantage for olives cultivated in our country,” he said.
The Agriculture Ministry plans to increase olive production to around 200,000 tons by 2022 and increase per capita consumption of olive oil to 190 grams per year.
Leading olive growing regions in Iran include Fars, Kerman, Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Qazvin, Gilan, Golestan and Zanjan provinces.
