Cotton Output Expected to Rise 15% This Year

Iran’s cotton production is estimated to reach 81,000 tons in the current fiscal year (started March 20), to register a 15.71% increase compared with last year, an Agriculture Ministry official said. 
“As a result, Iran will be able to meet 68% of its domestic demand this year while the figure stood at around 58% last year,” Ebrahim Hezarjaribi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Some 98,000 hectares have so far gone under cotton cultivation this year. A total of 280,000 tons of cotton bolls are estimated to be produced this year.” 
The official noted that Khorasan Razavi with 23,000 hectares tops the list of provinces with the highest area of land under cotton cultivation. 
Other main provinces in cotton production in recent years have been Golestan in the north, North and South Khorasan in the northeast, Fars in the southwest and Ardebil in the northwest of the country.
Land under cotton cultivation, Hezarjaribi added, will increase to 150,000 tons next year to register a 50% rise.
According to the official, the Agriculture Ministry plans to achieve self-sufficiency in cotton production by 2025.
Hossein Kaviyani, the CEO of Iran Cotton Fund, told Young Journalists Club that a total of 97,000 tons of cotton were imported into Iran in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20).
Cotton, threads and textiles are mainly imported from Uzbekistan, which has high-quality cotton, as well as India and China, he told Mizan Online.