Iran accounts for 90% of the world's production of saffron

Iran accounts for about 90 percent of the world's saffron production, deputy agriculture minister Tamassebi said, according to the Meh News Agency. He said about 115,000 hectares of land in Iran are used to grow saffron, out of a total of 122,000 hectares worldwide. Moreover, Iran's saffron production is growing rapidly, with about 5,000 hectares of land being added to the country each year.

The country's agriculture ministry expects saffron production to reach 430 tons this year (March 2019-2020). Iran grows saffron in 22 provinces, with eastern Khorasan, North Khorasan and South Khorasan accounting for nearly 90 percent. The production, harvesting, processing, sorting and packaging of the saffron industry creates about 200,000 jobs. In the last Iranian calendar year, Iran produced 404 tons of saffron, of which 280 tons were exported to more than 40 countries, with Spain, Vietnam, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates being the largest importers of Iranian saffron.