Seyed Mojtaba Hosseini’s – TIDA Silk Road Company General director – Global saffron market point of view.

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The country of Iran is known as the origin of saffron in the world with a history of thousands of years of saffron production and this valuable plant is cultivated and produced in different regions in Razavi, North and South Khorasan provinces.Iran producing about 300 M tones of saffron annualy that is 90 percent of world production.

But Iran’s share of the global saffron market is only 30%. Despite owning first place in the production and export of saffron, unfortunately, according to official statistics, Iran’s share in the world production and trade of this red gold has always faced decreased over the past years, This reduction in share has happened due to smuggling saffron from Iran and exporting it as a third country production, as well as the efforts of countries such as Turkey, Spain, Afghanistan, and China to produce and commercialize saffron production, which is due to the lack of efficient and correct management in the country. If the private sector also pays for personal interests instead of national interests,Sooner or later, saffron will suffer the same fate as Iranian carpets and Iranian pistachios, which were once unique Iranian products, but Iranian carpets were copied and Iranian pistachios found a competitor like USA.

Original and high quality saffron is known as the most expensive spice in the world with a price of over 1500 dollars per KG in the world market. This expensive spice, which is also known as red gold, with a volume of more than 375 million dollars in world trade last year, ranked 3394 among the most traded goods.

Iran’s share of this market during this year was a little over 110 million dollars and about 30% of the volume of transactions, which is a small share of the world market compared to Iran’s 92% share of saffron production.

The General director of TIDA Silk Road Company, Seyed Mojtabi Hosseini, expressed his regret about the main causes of this issue and added:

The first reason for Iran’s low share in the world market is the international commercial and banking sanctions, which the government’s lack of support for legal exporters has also fueled many problems of this valuable national commodity.

In addition to the many problems of saffron export, the next most important reason from the TIDA Silk Road Company’s General director point of view; is lack of empathy and uniformity among domestic and international activists of saffron market in the country, and unfortunately, it has been seen that some emerging and even long-established businessmen and colleagues active in the field of saffron smuggle saffron and saffron onions to other countries in order to achieve personal benefits,from the neighbor countries up to the United States and export this national asset to the world as a product of those countries, which along with the economic damage it causes to the Iran national trade balance and the credit of Iranian saffron producers, creates three fundamental problems.

The main problems caused by the smuggling of saffron and saffron onions:

1- Regardless of the betrayal of these profiteers towards this national asset, with the departure of saffron onions from the country by these profiteers, Iran’s monopoly and share of saffron production has decreased and the power of Iranian businessmen to regulate the market has decreased.

2- The smuggled saffrom out of the country – due to non-standard transportation and storage – and saffron produced in other countries – due to the lack of ideal conditions for saffron cultivation- , do not have sufficient quality to be presented in international markets. They cause the disrepute of Iranian saffron.

3- The production of saffron in other countries opens the opportunity for the emergence of profiteers and fraudsters from other countries, and the share of low-quality and fake saffron in the market increases, which in turn increases the problems of gaining customer trust.

Lack of publication of a global and export perspective among saffron farmers and producers:

Managing Director of TIDA Silk Road Company ,Seyed Mojtabi Hosseini, who is also an activist in the field of saffron cultivation and production, regarding the reasons for Iran’s low share in the global saffron market, added that during more than 20 years of experience and family activity in the field of saffron cultivation and production Unfortunately, one of the reasons for Iran’s lack of growth in the global saffron market has always been the lack of global and export visoin of the producers to the market, and the government and active businessmen in this field are also responsible for investing in the field of saffron production and cultivation, and the production of processed saffron products. and the training of farmers for optimal production, the result of which is evident today in the complete drying of the saffron fields of Qaenat city and the depopulation of most areas of this county, which was the saffron capital of the world not so long ago.

Saffron is a missed opportunity:

According to Seyed Mojtabi Hosseini, TIDA Silk Road trading General director , the global market of saffron with a compound annual growth rate(CAGR) of over 8% and considering various economic and commercial indicators should act as a golden opportunity for the country’s economy,but has always been under the favor of the government of men and women. The negligence of saffron industry activists and ignoring the potential and capacities of this product has caused the aforementioned problems.

The mission of TIDA Silk Road Company:

He further added that the TIDA group of companies has the mission of preserving this national capital in the soil of our beloved country by establishing specialized departments in the fields of commerce, production and agriculture, processing and research and development, fintech and financial technology, information technology, marketing and digital marketing. And by registering the TIDA saffron trading company and brand in a third party country to provide the legal infrastructure for export, with the concern of preserving the authenticity and quality of Iranian saffron with the intention of companionship and empathy to create the common interests of farmers, producers, traders and all those involved in the saffron industry; It is trying to establish Iran’s real position in the global saffron market and revive the ancient silk road.