Financial Tribune - Iran exports 20 tons of mushrooms daily, according to the chairman of the board of the Union of Mushroom Producers, Mohammad Hassan Afshar.

�Iraq and Persian Gulf littoral states are the main customers of Iranian mushrooms,� the official was quoted as saying by ILNA.

He added that mushroom growers in Iran are operating at half their actual capacity.

"Iran has the capacity to export 60,000 tons of mushrooms per year," he said.

�Iran�s mushroom output is predicted to reach 180,000 tons by the end of the current fiscal year [March 19, 2020].�

Last year's (March 2018-19) production stood at 152,000 tons.

According to Afshar, Iran is the world's sixth biggest producer of edible mushrooms.

The average export price of Iranian mushroom is $2 per kilogram while the global average is $2.5 per kilogram.

Currently, there are 900 edible mushroom producers in Iran, providing jobs for more than 10,000 people.

Per capita mushroom consumption in Iran stands at 1-1.2 kilograms�lower than the global average of 2 kilograms and Europe�s average of 4 kilograms.

Currently, more than 20 types of mushrooms are commercially cultivated worldwide, with China, the US, the Netherlands, France and Poland being the biggest producers.