Iran Date provinces
Khuzestan Province
Khuzestan Province has concentrated processing and packaging
industry mainly on its Sayer product, which is a semi-dried
date. As far as production is concerned, this product falls
in two packaging methods: Balak and Consumer Packaging.
Bulk Processing and Packaging Workshops of Sayer Date in
Khuzestan: These workshops are 60 years old. This method was
founded upon feasibility studies carried out by Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) and with the assistance of
importing countries (England and USA) over half a century
ago. The method made good progress in a way that before the
outbreak of Iran-Iraq war the total output of these
workshops amounted to 40-50 thousand tons per year. After
the war and due to serious damages imposed on Abadan and
Khorramshahr, where these workshops were mainly situated,
coupled with the darkening of relations with the western
countries (main consumers of dates), the processing and
packaging industry suffered weaknesses and shortcomings.
During recent years, post-war reconstruction policies
revived these industries and some of them enjoy a good
quality. It should be noted that these workshops mainly
package Sayer stoneless dates in big cartons (above 10 kg)
for export to Western countries, where they are used as raw
material at foodstuff factories.
Consumer Packages Processing and Packaging Workshops of
Sayer Date in Khuzestan: After the revolution a number of
capital-intensive date processing and packaging units came
to being in Khuzestan Province under state-run companies or
using governmental subsidies. However, because of weak
marketing and lack of sufficient feasibility studies the
products of these units could not find their way into the
world markets. As a matter of fact, to date, no opportunity
has risen to make the best use of their capacities.
Bushehr Province
After the revolution, using governmental support, Bushehr
Province, likewise, enjoyed the creation of a number of
capital-intensive processing and packaging units for dates
and the by-products. However, due to the aforementioned
reasons cited for Khuzestan Province, these units failed to
make great achievements.
Kerman Province
Before the victory of Islamic Revolution a processing and
packaging unit was established for Mazafati date but could
not reap the expected results for the already mentioned
reasons. However, in recent years, the private sector pushed
this industry forward and new date processing and packaging
units were established one after another. It is hoped that
these efforts will be profitable in the future.
