The Ministry of Agriculture has banned the import of olives and their seeds in any form. The ministry predicts that this year 85 thousand tons of olives will be harvested from 84 thousand hectares of olive groves.
Regarding the production of olives in Iran, the head of the olive project at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ahmad Mostakhdemi said: “35 thousand hectares of olive groves in the three provinces of Ghazvin, Gilan and Zanjan have been cultivated, expecting more than 5 tons per hectare of produce. Currently, the average harvest across the country is 2.1 tons per hectare.”
Mr Mostakhdemi added that the majority of groves across the country are old and worn-out: “This year 33 billion IRR will be spent for improvement and reforming and 12 billion IRR will be spent for the development of olive groves”.
Based on figures from the Ministry of Agriculture, the national demand for olive oil is around 10 thousand tons per year, half of which is produced domestically. “The per capita consumption of olive oil is only 130 grams per year. Meanwhile in Greece, this number is 18 kilograms. The per capita consumption of canned olives is 850 grams in Iran, which is 2.5 times higher than the global average. There is a surplus of canned olive and therefore, each year a portion of the product is saved for the next year”, continued Mr Mostakhdemi.
The price of a half-liter bottle of Iranian brand, Famila, olive oil is 196.000 IRR (5 USD). The price of a 650 gram bottle of Badr brand olives with seeds is 115.000 IRR (2.9 USD).
