January 10, 2020
Iran is trying to form an orga-nization of saffron exporting countries in an effort to get out from under the agricultural safety standards imposed by western countries that are hurting its exports.
PressTV, the English outlet of Iranian state broadcasting, reports that the Islamic Republic is increasingly irritated with the European monopoly over bench-marking and standardization processes that exist in the field.
A senior saffron planter and exporter said that an “Organization of Saffron Exporting Countries” (OSEC) patterned after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would greatly boost the global trade of saffron and would help countries like Iran have a better share of the multibillion-dollar business.
“European countries do not recognize Iranian saffron standards,” Seyyed Ehsan Mostafavi told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), adding, “However, the real grade of Iranian saffron will soon be established in international markets through setting up a global bloc of OSEC.”
He didn’t explain, however, why he thought other saffron producers would want to join a cartel that Iran sought to give Iran more market share for the world’s most expensive spice.
Iran is the world’s top producer of saffron, with output continuing to grow in the recent past, especially since the rial plunged has against hard currencies, making Iranian products much cheaper for the world.
Mostafavi said European buyers, including laboratories in Belgium, had “erroneously” selected the saffron produced in Afghanistan as the benchmark for importers.
He said the creation of an OSEC would correct the “current mistakes” in standardization processes.
The businessman claimed that an OSEC could help Iran increase its share of the $8 billion global saffron trade 10-fold to reach nearly $4.5 billion a year.
Mostafavi said Iran’s Ministry of Agriculture has declared its support for the OSEC idea, adding that the Foreign Ministry, Majlis deputies and major Iranian businesses involved in the saffron trade are being briefed on the issue.
