BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 11
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iran has exported more than 209,000 tons of tomatoes worth more than $97.6 million to the various countries during two months of current Iranian year (March 20, May 20, 2020), Spokesman for Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) Rouhollah Latifi said, Trend reports citing IRICA.
According to Latifi, Iran exported more than 125,000 tons of tomatoes worth $57.3 million to Iraq in two months.
Latifi added that during two months, 56,600 tons of tomatoes worth $26.1 million were exported to Afghanistan.
The spokesman said that, Iran exported 16,500 tons of tomatoes worth $8.09 million to the United Arab Emirates during the same period.
"Iran exported $3.5 million worth of tomatoes to Russia, $2.04 million to Qatar and $338,000 to Oman," he said.
Latifi said that Iran also exported tomatoes to Kuwait, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The official said that it has not been possible to export tomatoes to countries such as Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Bulgaria, Syria and Kyrgyzstan due to a number of restrictions imposed on border customs as result of the spread of the coronavirus.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 177,900 people have been infected 8,506 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 140,500 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.