A senior official from Iran’s agriculture ministry (MAJ) said on Monday that the country’s saffron output is expected to reach 500 metric tons (mt) by 2028.
Elham Fattahi Far, who leads MAJ’s Department for Greenhouses, Herbs and Edible Mushrooms, said that Iran also seeks to diversify its saffron export markets to reduce its dependence on Spain and the United Arab Emirates as its two main customers.
Fattahi Far made the remarks in a ceremony marking Iran’s National Saffron Day.
Iran is responsible for more than 90% of the global saffron supply. However, the country supplies a bulk of the spice to re-exporters in the region and Europe, mainly because of sanctions and the lack of proper marketing strategies.
Fattahi Far said that Iran needs to increase its direct exports of saffron to markets in Eastern Europe, North America, and Southeast Asia in the coming years.
She said that the country is investing in technologies needed to mechanize saffron production, a delicate process that is up to 70% reliant on human labor in saffron farms in Iran’s eastern provinces.
Iran’s saffron exports declined significantly last year after a major rise seen in 2023 when the country exported nearly half of its output, generating revenues of around $200 million.
The country signed a $300-million agreement to supply saffron to Qatar in late 2022 in what authorities described as the world’s largest ever saffron export deal.
MAJ figures show that the cultivation area for saffron in Iran reached nearly 122,000 hectares in 2022.
The country has nearly 330 saffron processing and packaging factories with a total capacity of 596 mt per year, which are mostly based in the eastern Khorasan Razavi province, where much of the country's saffron crop is grown.
Press TV