Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.15
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The Caspian Sea states have announced a willingness to buy Iranian stored tea, ISNA quoted Gilan province's department of standards, Mohammad-Ali Yousefi, as saying on January 15.
Other countries, including Turkey, Georgia and also India have expressed interest in buying Iran's stored tea, he added.
According to him, 60,000 tons of tea has been stored in Gilan for over three years which cannot be consumed by people, but can be used for industrial purposes, he noted.
Foreign countries are interested in Iranian stored tea due to its low price, he said.
In September 2013, ISNA quoted Iran's tea organisation head Ali Mohrer as saying that Iran will sell its tea harvest which has been stored for 15 years in warehouses to India, Sri Lanka, Turkey and the Netherlands.
The tea products which have been stored since the 1990s will be sold at 10,000-20,000 rials (400-800 cents) per kilogramme, he added.
Some 30,000 tons of tea is produced in Iran per year, of which 7500 tons is consumed by the domestic market.