There are 180 tea factories in north of Iran 100 of which have been shut down and the other 80 are functioning part time.

Parviz Shabani the vice-chair of the tea farmers union told ILNA “Unfortunately the main reasons affected the tea factories are lack of support by the officials and huge amount of illegal smuggled tea.”

Shabani emphasized that the remained 80 factories are functioning part time and they produce 10 tons tea a day instead of producing 30 tons.”

In terms of the plan of selling CHAIE SANAVATI by Guilan mayor said “Consuming the non-use tea is harmful on both internal and the other countries which importing it and according to the health ministry this kind of tea is not potable and has to be converted into fertilizer.”

“The Guilan governor purchased 50-60 thousand tons of non-use tea from the villages’ unity department for 384 tomans per kilo and sold it out for 1500 tomans per kilo.”

According to Shabani the internal tea production line produce 10-12 thousand tons that because of importing tea and the cheap non-use tea the factories cannot even produce the 10-12 thousand tons.”

As well he mentioned the annually importing of 100 thousand tons of tea which most of it is illegal and without paying the tariffs and despite of having enough internal potential to produce needed amount, producing the green leaves tea in the country significantly decreased compared to the past years because the officials neglected the internal production of tea and unpaid wages of the workers.
HRANA News Agency