Gov’t Tea Purchase Reaches 78,000 Tons

About 78,000 tons of fresh tea leaves worth 1.55 trillion rials ($41 million) have been purchased from farmers by the government at guaranteed prices, the head of Tea Organization of Iran said on Sunday.

“Tea leaf production has declined by 2% due to unfavorable weather conditions, although this year’s harvest enjoys very high quality,” Mohammad Vali Rouzbehan was also quoted as saying by ILNA. This is while Iraj Housemi, the head of Tea Farmers’ Union, said tea leaf production has experienced a 6% decline.

Tea undergoes three harvests a year: the spring harvest that starts in late April, the second in summer begins early June and the last one is in autumn and starts late September.

Tea is cultivated in Iran’s northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran where 50,000 families earn their living from tea farming on more than 25,000 hectares of fields.

The government has a guaranteed purchase system in place for many crops, including tea, to build up its strategic reserves and control prices in the domestic market.