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February 19th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani, on Thursday, inaugurated the first phase of Iran’s biggest agricultural products export terminal constructed with an investment of 7.2 trillion rials (about $171 million) in the northern Mazandaran province through video conference, IRNA reported.
Put into operation in the 51st series of inauguration ceremonies in the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 20, 2020), the terminal is covering 31,000 hectares of land in the city of Jouybar.
Marketing, exporting products, creation and introduction of Iranian brands in global markets, reforming the distribution system and regulation of the market of agricultural products are reported to be among the primary goals of the mentioned export terminal.
Speaking in the opening ceremony, the terminal’s Head Khalil Gholizadeh said the first phase of this export terminal with a capacity of more than 364,000 tons has different sections for sorting and packing fruits, producing carton boxes, and freezing protein materials and has created direct jobs for 300 people.
According to the official, the export terminal includes 57 cold storage halls and has the capacity for freezing 80 tons of agricultural products and producing 6,000 tons of carton boxes every day, as well as the annual packaging of 274,000 tons of various agricultural products and the storing of 90,000 tons of vegetable and protein products at above and below zero temperatures.
Gholizadeh considered the regulation of the market of agricultural products, especially horticulture products, as one of the most important advantages of this terminal and called for the support of public and private banks in providing working capital for the country’s agricultural units.
He pointed to providing the complete supply chain, including the packaging industry, as one of the main requirements of the country’s export terminals for agricultural products and said: “supporting the production chain needed for this export terminal and setting up export terminals for similar agricultural products in other provinces are the requirements for our export sector today.”
As announced by an official with the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of the country’s agricultural products export has risen 8.4 percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020 – January 19, 2021), compared to the same period of time in the past year.
Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi, the IRICA deputy head for technical and customs affairs, put the value of exported products at $4.9 billion in the ten-month period of the present year.
The official said the weight of agricultural products exported in the mentioned period has risen 25.9 percent to stand at 7.085 million tons.
He said that Iran had exported 5.6 million tons of agricultural products worth $4.5 billion during the first ten months of the previous year.
Details of agricultural exports in the period under review show that 2.4 million tons with a value of more than $2.1 billion are allocated to the 10 major agricultural products, which in terms of value pistachio is at the top of them.
Of this figure, the share of pistachios with fresh or dried skin is 147,000 tons worth more than $920 million, and the export of fresh or dried pistachio kernels is about 15,000 tons worth more than $170 million.
According to Orounaqi, eight countries were the export destinations of the 10 major exported products which shows that there is a wider distribution than before in the export of these items between countries.
Iran exported over $5.8 billion worth of agricultural and foodstuff products in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19, 2020), the Head of Agriculture Ministry’s Planning and Economic Affairs Department Shahrokh Shajari has announced.
According to the official, about 7.104 million tons of such products worth $5.821 billion were exported to foreign destinations last year.
In the mentioned period, over 6.941 million tons of agricultural and foodstuff products worth $6.392 billion were also imported into the country, according to Shajari.
Watermelons, apples, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, and shallots were the top five exported products in the previous year in terms of weight, while in terms of value, pistachios, apples, tomatoes, pistachio kernels, and watermelons were the five major exported items.
EF/MA
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