Financial Tribune- More than 1 million tons of pomegranates are estimated to be produced in the current Iranian year (started March 20) from 94,000 hectares of orchards allocated for the fruit’s cultivation in Iran, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture said. “Domestic demand stands at over 900,000 tons per year and the remaining 100,000 tons will be exported to Europe, the Persian Gulf littoral states and Russia,” Abolqasem Hassanpour was also quoted as saying by IRNA.

According to Hassanpour, 3 million tons of pomegranates are cultivated across the world annually and Iran is the world’s biggest producer of the fruit followed by India, China, Turkey and the United States. The cities of Saveh, Yazd and Shiraz as well as Mazandaran Province are the main producers of pomegranates.