Iran has traditionally been among the top ten tomato-producing countries in the world due to its diverse environment. Tomatoes are grown virtually all year in various locations of Iran, owing to the fact that the country has four seasons. Cold regions such as Khorasan, Zanjan, and Golestan, for example, produce tomatoes in hot seasons, while hot regions such as Fars and Bushehr produce tomatoes in cold seasons.

Because of the increased demand, particularly in Iran’s neighboring countries, Iran’s tomato paste export figures have continued to rise in recent years. As a result, more Iranian producers have turned to tomato paste exports.

Iran, with a net export of $ 209.4 million, is ranked sixth in the world among the top 10 exporters of tomato paste. The area under tomato cultivation in the country during the past years has varied between 130,000 and 190,000 hectares, which can be expressed as 160,000 hectares as the average area under cultivation in the country. The average production of tomatoes in Iran is 40 tons per hectare, which means that an average of six million and four hundred thousand tons of tomatoes are produced each year. Of the 6.4 million tons of tomatoes that are produced annually in Iran, about 800,000 tons are converted into tomato paste, of which 133,000 tons are allocated to the export of tomato paste.

Because of their cultural affinity with Iran, neighboring nations, particularly Iraq and Afghanistan, are the top importers of tomato paste from Iran. Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan are among the nations targeted for Iranian tomato paste export, i.e. the countries to which Iran exports the most tomato paste.