TEHRAN, Iran, Sep. 15
Trend:
Iran is able to meet 50 percent of domestic demand for cotton, which stands at around 150,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian year(ends on March 21, 2022), an Agriculture Ministry official said.
“Iran`s self-sufficiency in the production of cotton backs to 2001, but since 2002 the country forced to import cotton to compensate for the domestic needs,” Ebrahim Hezarjaribi told Trend.
The official noted that from 2003 to 2020, cotton imports exceeded production.
In 2020, the cotton production reached 80,000 tons, whereas 70,000 tons were imported.
Hezarjaribi went on to estimate 150,000 tons of cotton consumption by the end of the current Iranian year (ends on March 2022).
“The country's cotton consumption was about 120,000 tones last year,” he said.
He expected that cotton production to reach 75,000 tons by the end of the current Iranian year.
The official noted that Khorasan Razavi province tops the list of provinces with the highest area of land under cotton cultivation.
Other main provinces in cotton production in recent years have been Golestan in the north, North and South Khorasan in the northeast, Fars in the southwest, and Ardebil in the northwest of the country.