Azerbaijan, Baku Aug. 29 / Trend, N. Umid, S. Isayev
Some 10 percent of Iranian pistachio farms are dying in the country every year, the head of the association of Iranian pistachio farmers, Mohsen Jalalpour said, Iranian Jahanesanat newspaper reported.
He went on to note that, if the process does not stop, Iran will have to import pistachio for its domestic consumption during the next ten years.
Iran's pistachio farms` area reaches some 300,000 hectares which some 30,000 hectares of that have been damaged due to climatic problems, he said.
Iran should move toward industrial production of pistachio, establishing mega farms, Jalalpour argued.
He forecasted that Iran's dried pistachio production would reach some 170,000 tons during current solar year (started on March 21).
Iran may lose its stance as the world's largest pistachio exporter in the near future, head of Iran's Nuts and Dried Fruits Sellers Union Mostafa Ahmadi said earlier.
"Iran's exports with the product have faced 20-30 present decrease due to Forex prices fluctuations," he said, adding that "The USA will take Iran's position as the world's biggest pistachio exporter unless we increase our production."
The ISNA News Agency reported on July 20 that the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Russia, Germany and Iraq were the main importers of Iran's pistachio in the first three months of the current solar year.
Iran exported a total of 10.5 tons of pistachio worth $86.7 million in the aforementioned period.
The figure shows 3.7 and 4.8 percent increase in terms of weight and value respectively, compared to the same period last year.
Deputy Director of the Trade Promotion Organization of Iran, Kioumars Fathollah Kermanshahi said in March that Iran exported more than 128,600 tons of pistachio worth $1.14 billion in the previous solar year.
