TEHRAN: Iran exported more than 5,000 tons of honey in the 12 months to March 2015, said an official.
Mashallah Jamshidi, the head of Beekeeping and Crossbreeding Office of Agriculture Jihad Ministry, put the value of the export at $28 million.
He recalled that Iran’s honey export reached 4,000 tons in the 12 months to March 2014.
“The main export destinations of Iranian honey were Turkey, the UAE, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Malaysia,” Jamshidi said, adding that Turkey is the major consumer of Iranian honey.
He noted that Ankara imported 3,400 tons of honey from Iran in the year to March 20.
Meanwhile Deputy Agriculture Minister for Livestock Production Hassan Rokni also said that Iran produces about 75,000 tons of honey each year.
“Despite reduction in rainfall, honey production increased by 5 to 10 percent in during last year,” he added.
Iran exports honey to the Persian Gulf littoral states and other countries including Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
The head of Beekeepers and Honey Producers Association Abdolreza Bigonah told Iran Daily in an interview that the quality of Iran’s honey is unique in the world due to its diverse climate, variety of flowers, and the fact that it has four seasons at any given time of the year.
He also said that Iranian bees are exported to countries including Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Iraq.
In addition to honey, the beekeeping industry yields other products such as royal jelly, pollen, honey wax and beehive that are exported even to the world’s major honey producers and beekeepers, he added.
Bigonah said Afghanistan ranks second after Iran in terms of the quality of honey.
He referred to Ardebil province as the cradle of honey production and the pioneer in Iran’s beekeeping industry.
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