The annual tea output in Iran is expected to reach 145,000 tons

TEHRAN - Tea production in Iran is expected to reach 145,000 tons in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20), Head of Iran's Tea Organization (ITO) Habib Jahansaz told IRNA. The official noted that so far about 45,000 tons of tea leaves have been harvested by tea farmers, of which about 39,892 tons were high quality and 5,525 tons were low-quality second-grade leaves. According to the official ITO has purchased all of the abovementioned harvested tea from the farmers. He put the country’s annual tea consumption at about 100,000 tons, of which 30,000 tons are supplied through domestic production and the rest through imports. The demand in the domestic market indicates that there is a good potential to increase tea production in the country, he said. Tea harvest season in Iran starts in farmlands across the northern provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran in early May. More than 55,000 families grow tea over 28,000 hectares of farmland in the two provinces, accounting for ...