TEHRAN, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran has anticipated a moderate rise in pistachio exports in the current Iranian calendar year, ending in March 2018, Financial Tribune daily reported on Monday.
Iranian pistachio cultivators anticipate a moderate rise in the exports of the product in the current Iranian calendar year, said the head of Iran Pistachio Association.
About 150,000 tons of pistachios worth 1.5 billion U.S. dollars are estimated to be exported from Iran during the current Iranian year, Mohsen Jalalpour was quoted as saying.
If the goal is materialized, the pistachio exports will register an 11 percent of rise in weight and a 25 percent growth in value compared with the previous year, Jalalpour said.
The official, who is former president of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, put the weight of last year's pistachio exports at 135,000 tons and the value at around 1.2 billion dollars.
According to Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mojtaba Khosrotaj, Iran supplies more than 50 percent of the world pistachio market. Khosrotaj noted that Iran's main rival in pistachio production is the U.S. state of California.
Iran exports the agricultural product to over 50 countries, including the United States, Ukraine, the UAE, Italy, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, France, Poland, Sweden, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan and Romania.
