BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 14. The volume of tea leaves purchased from local tea farmers in Iran increased by 7 percent, from the beginning of the current tea harvesting season (started April 21, 2023) to June 10, 2023, compared to the same period in the last season, Chairman of the Iran Tea Organization, Habib Jahansaz said, Trend reports.
The chairman noted that approximately 53,600 tons of tea leaves were purchased from farmers in the country within the mentioned period.
Jahansaz added that the value of purchased tea leaves so far was 7 trillion rials (about $167 million). Of the mentioned amount, about 25 percent - 1.75 trillion rials (about $41.7 million) will be paid by the government, while 75 percent - 5.25 trillion rials (about $125 million) – by the tea factories.
According to him, so far, tea factories have paid more than 60 percent of their debt worth approximately 3.4 trillion rials (about $80.9 million).
The official said that overall, 130,000 tons of tea leaves are expected to be harvested in the country in the current Iranian year (March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024).
Jahansaz also pointed out that the loans worth 620 billion rials (about $14.8 million) were provided for the restoration of tea plantations in the country and working capital over the last Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023).
The Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Jihad has set the price of 1 kg of 1st-grade tea leaves at approximately 140,000 rials (about $3.33), and the price of 1 kg of 2nd-grade tea leaves at 115,000 rials (about $2.74).
Meanwhile, a total of 116,317 tons of tea leaves worth 9.49 trillion rials (about $226 million) were purchased from tea farmers in the last season. Some 26,171 tons of dry tea were produced from the mentioned amount of tea leaves.
In Iran, some products such as rice, sugar beet, wheat, and tea are purchased from farmers by the Government Trade Corporation (GTC) of Iran under a guarantee and paid for in installments.
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