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Dates: production to range at 1.24 million metric tonnes

June 22, 2020 at 2:07 PM , Der AUDITOR
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TEHRAN. Harvesting will start in less than two months in Iran. Some farmers are, however, still sitting last year's stocks. Problem is that the demand for dates has...

... drastically declined since the end of Ramadan. Demand is in fact so law that traders are only issuing reference prices. Curiously, however, the National Iranian Dates Asscoiation estimates that only 20,000 metric tonnes remain in cold stores. Around 1.2 million metric tonnes of dates were harvested last year.

Quality set to be high
At 1.24 million mt production is expected to range on a similar level as last year. Initial samples from the plantations in the Kerman Province even give reason to hope for larger fruits of better quality. So far the fruits have benefited from sufficient rain and ideal temperatures. Hot weather and strong gusts of may, however, still have an adverse impact on production before the harvest kicks off.

Waiting for the new crop
Although most border crossings are open and exports from Iran should not be a problem at present, many buyers are waiting for the arrival of the new crop. Buying interest in dates that have already been stored for more than ten months is very much limited. On top of this, the decline in value of the Iranian rial has propmted a decline in export rates. Grade A Mazafati dates are, for instance, trading 4.5% lower than two weeks ago.

 

Mazafati dates*, Iran

Quality

EUR/kg

Grade A

1.05

Grade B

0.92

Premium quality

1.12

FOB Iran

*Please note that the prices quoted here refer to a purchase volume of 1 mt. Prices range lower for larger volumes.

 

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price chart, Mazafati dates, dried, grade A, Iran
price chart, Mazafati dates, dried, grade B, Iran
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