More milk and more meat coming from Western Azerbaijan

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The largest animal husbandry and agricultural complex in the north-west region of Iran was opened in Western Azerbaijan province with an investment of 460 billion IRR ($14.2 million).

“54% of the investment for this complex was provided via banking sources and the remainder was provided by Iran Milk Industries (Pegah Co.) which is a subsidiary of the Iran Retirement Fund”, said Mahmoud Hojjati, Minister of Agriculture, in the opening ceremony of Salmas Complex.

This project is expected to create 150 direct and 1000 indirect jobs. The final capacity of this complex is 5 thousand head of cattle. In the first phase a capacity of 2 thousand heads is expected. Salmas Complex is expected to produce 27 thousand tons of milk and 300 tons of meat, annually.

In order to guarantee the sales of the product and to complete the production chain, Pegah Co. is the main buyer of the milk produced in this complex. With approximately 24000 billion IRR in sales, Pegah Co. was Iran’s largest company in the food industry sector in the March 2015 to March 2016 time period.

Western Azerbaijan province, whose capital city is Orumie, is one of the most fertile provinces in Iran. 5% of arable land in Iran is located in this province. Apples, grapes and apricots are the main garden products of this province.

The Minister of Agriculture has said that Government efforts have led to the exportation of raisins and apples.