Financial Tribune - A total of 1.22 million tons of dates were produced in the last Iranian year that ended on March 19, 2020, of which 200,000-220,000 tons have been stored for supply during the holy month of Ramadan (started April 25), secretary of the National Association of Iranian Dates said.

Noting that the lion�s share of dates is kept in cold storage in Kerman Province, Meqdad Takallouzadeh also told ILNA, �Restrictions on exports have resulted in higher supply and 40-50% decline in prices during the current year�s fasting month compared with last year. Up to 30% of Iran�s date output would be exported to India, Southeast Asia and West Europe every year but the coronavirus crisis has halted exports this year.�

Domestic demand for dates is annually 550,000 tons while per capita date consumption in Iran is around 3 kilograms per year.