Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Production and export of persimmon, which stands out in the non-oil products due to its export potential, is increasing in the country.

About 200,000 tons of persimmon were produced in Azerbaijan in 2018, chairman of the Persimmon Producers and Exporters Association Gadir Yusifov told Report.

Yusifov noted that 150,000 tons of products were exported in 2018 and about 50,000 tons were exported in 2019, more than 4,000 tons of which fall on March.

“Sales markets are mainly Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates,” noted Yusifov.

He also added that Azerbaijan is already exporting dried persimmons to European countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, as well as Russia, Ukraine and other countries. However, large volumes of exports are not planned.

Yusifov stressed that from September of last year till March of this year, Azerbaijani exports reached $ 150 million.

In Azerbaijan, persimmon is grown mainly in Goychay, Balakan, Agjabadi and Ganja. New enterprises for the production of semi-dried and dried persimmon were created in Balakan and Goychay.

New persimmon processing plants will open in Azerbaijan’s Ganja city in the near future. It is also planned to create conditions for the production of frozen persimmon at these plants.

Azerbaijan is one of the major producers and exporters of persimmon. Persimmon holds a major share in the export of non-oil products.

Last year, Azerbaijan increased the sale of persimmon by 17.5 percent. For the whole of 2017, Azerbaijan sold persimmons for a total amount of $ 97 million. In 2018, the cultivation reached $ 114 million, which indicates an increase of 17.5 percent.

The Persimmon Producers and Exporters Association was established in 2017 to increase the number of persimmon gardens, expand persimmon production and maximize exports.

The annual production capacity of the association is 6,000 tons and export capacity is 5,400 tons.

Persimmon is a Chinese-born fruit specie grown mainly in subtropical climates in the world. Approximately 70 percent of the world's 4 million tons of persimmon production appeared in China. A significant amount of persimmons are produced in Korea, Japan, Brazil, Azerbaijan, Italy, Israel, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

Although yet it is unknown who planted the first trees persimmons in Azerbaijan, the persimmon grown in our country has been named "Caucasus persimmon".

The reason for the wide distribution of this fruit is its qualities - relatively frost-resistant, beautiful, with attractive fruits, having high nutritional and healing properties, saturated vitamins and minerals.

Persimmon, cultivated in Azerbaijan, contains large amounts of glucose, fructose, organic acids, carotene, and vitamin C, and other health properties that make it a natural medicine. It helps to fight weakness, anemia, vitamin deficiency and chronic gastrointestinal diseases.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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