Figures by Iran’s customs office (IRICA) shows the country earned over $241 million from exports of various summer-grown fruits and vegetables in five months to late August.
IRICA spokesman Rouhollah Latifi said on Saturday that total exports of cucurbits and vegetables known as “seifi” in Farsi had amounted to more than 1.94 million metric tons in volume terms in the first five months of the Iranian calendar year ending August 21.
Latifi said that Iran has a good share of the global trade of such produces which is around $3 billion annually.
He said Iran is the fifth leading exporter in the world and the largest in the Middle East of gourd family fruits and other vegetables.
The official said countries near Iran, mainly Iraq and the United Arab Emirates and Oman, are the main consumers of the Iranian summer-grown fruits and vegetables, adding, however, that crops have been exported to countries as far as Europe, North America and Australia.
Iran has increasingly relied on exports of agrifood in recent years to offset the impacts of American sanctions on its sale of crude.
Booming exports and better weather conditions caused the Iranian agriculture sector to expand by nearly 10 percent in the fiscal year ending late March 2020, according to government figures.