TEHRAN, Jul. 04 (MNA) � An official said Iran�s lemon production has climbed by eight percent as compared with the previous Iranian calendar year (ended March 20).


The General Director of Tropical and Subtropical Fruits Department of Agriculture Ministry Abolghasem Hassanpour estimated that a total of 480 to 500 thousand tons of lemon will be produced in the current year asserting �Fars, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Khuzestan and Hormozgan provinces are among lemon producers in the country.�

�The product is supplied from July to September while it reached its peak harvest in months of August and September,� he continued.

Touching about the demand for lemon inside the country, Hassanpour said �lemon consumption has increased significantly in recent years.�

�Lemon takes up three consumption forms including fresh, dry and juice while lemon juice enjoys the most popularity among Iranians,� continued the official.

He went on to underscore that �given the seven or eight percent growth in lemon production in the current year, no shortage is felt in this respect which alleviated the need to import the product.�b

By Mehr News Agency