Mazandaran exports 6,375 tonnes of kiwifruit and tangerines in 294 consignments

Iran's Mazandaran province has exported 6,375 tonnes of kiwifruit and tangerines in 294 consignments, the head of the provincial Agricultural Jihad Organisation, Asadollah Teymouri-Yansari, told reporters in Sari on Thursday evening, Mehr News Agency reported. The figures cover the province's two leading orchard crops; the report did not specify the period over which the shipments were made.

Tangerines accounted for the larger share of the volume: 175 consignments totalling 3,633 tonnes, or about 57 percent of the combined tonnage. Kiwifruit made up the remaining 119 consignments and 2,742 tonnes. Across both crops the average consignment worked out at roughly 22 tonnes, a size consistent with road-truck and container loads rather than bulk vessel shipments, and one that points to a steady stream of small lots moving to regional buyers.

Kiwifruit split between India and Uzbekistan

Kiwifruit exports were divided almost evenly between two destinations. India received 42 consignments weighing 942 tonnes, and Uzbekistan took the same number of consignments, 42, at a slightly higher 960 tonnes. A further 35 consignments weighing 839 tonnes went to other foreign markets, which Teymouri-Yansari did not name. The three destination figures add up to 2,741 tonnes, one tonne below the total he gave for the crop.

On that breakdown, India and Uzbekistan together absorbed 1,902 tonnes, or close to seven-tenths of Mazandaran's kiwifruit exports. The near-identical consignment counts for the two markets suggest comparable buyer structures and shipment routines rather than one dominant importer.

Russia absorbs three-quarters of tangerine volume

Tangerine shipments were far more concentrated. Russia was the principal destination, taking 136 consignments weighing 2,788 tonnes, according to Teymouri-Yansari. That is roughly 77 percent of the province's tangerine exports and about 44 percent of the total 6,375 tonnes of fruit shipped. The remaining 39 consignments, weighing 845 tonnes, were distributed across other foreign markets.

The Russian consignments averaged about 20.5 tonnes each, close to the figure for the export programme as a whole. The concentration leaves Mazandaran's tangerine trade closely tied to demand conditions, currency movements and border logistics in a single buyer market.

Provincial objectives: currency, jobs and fewer middlemen

Teymouri-Yansari set out the objectives behind the export programme, saying continued shipments of horticultural produce could support a wider presence for Mazandaran's output in regional and trans-regional markets. The stated aims were:

• development of export markets;
• higher foreign-currency earnings;
• support for producers;
• completion of the chain from production through to export.

He also pointed to the wider economic effects, saying stronger kiwifruit and tangerine exports create added value for agricultural output while reinforcing production, supporting rural employment, reducing the role of intermediaries and lifting incomes for farmers in the sector.

Mazandaran, on Iran's Caspian coast, is the country's main kiwifruit-growing region and a significant citrus producer. The volumes disclosed are modest against global trade in either commodity, but they are material for growers in the province, where the choice between an export sale and the domestic market determines the price a crop clears at. Teymouri-Yansari did not give export values, unit prices or a comparison with earlier periods.