Iran known as world’s largest producer of pomegranates with one million metric tons output

Director General of the Tropical and Semi-Tropical Fruits Department at the Horticultural Affairs Office of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad Abolghassem Hassanpour said on the sidelines of a visit to the pomegranate orchards and storage house of 3,000 tons of pomegranate in Saveh that based on the statistics available, India with 900,000 tons of production, China with 300,000 tons, Turkey with 220,000 tons and the US with 210,000 tons reserve the second, third, fourth and fifth rank respectively in terms of pomegranate production.
Pomegranate harvest in Iran is about to begin within a month over 62,000 hectares of land in the country’s central, southern and northeastern provinces.
Last year, Iran produced about 940,000 metric tons of pomegranates.
About 10,000 metric tons of the crop are exported mainly to China, the Persian Gulf Arab states and Europe.
Hassanpour said Iran is to resume pomegranate sales to South Korea after examinations on exported samples produced no sign of contamination as alleged by importers.
The official said each kilo of premium Iranian pomegranates sells for between $9-10 in the market, adding every five kilos bring about earnings equal to an oil barrel.
Iran’s rival in pomegranate production is the US which grows the Iranian native in California.
The fruit is mentioned in the Qur’an, the Bible and the Book of Exodus.
With its clusters of glistening red seeds, the sweet-sour juicy staple has found prominence around the world, sparking legal dispute with the likes of Coca-Cola for a misleading suggestion that its ingredient contained pomegranate juice.
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