Financial Tribune - The number of Iran's export markets for its agricultural products is shrinking by the day, Agriculture Ministry’s caretaker, Abbas Keshavarz, has warned.

"We have already lost the European markets and only Afghanistan, Iraq and Azerbaijan are currently the main customers of Iran’s agro products," he was quoted as saying by IRNA.

The official noted that aside from pistachio and saffron, of which Iran is the world's biggest producer, exports of other agricultural commodities like dates, apples, milk and vegetables are not economically viable for Iranian exporters.

“More than 3.58 million tons of agrifood products worth over $2.79 billion were exported from Iran during the first seven months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Oct. 22). This accounts for 11.42% of Iran’s total non-oil exports during the period,” Abdolmehdi Bakhshandeh, deputy agriculture minister for planning and economic affairs, said.