Financial Tribune- Close to 16,660 tons of pistachio worth $173.66 million were exported from Iran to 56 countries, including the US, Ukraine, the UAE, Italy, Bahrain, Brazil, Bulgaria, Turkey, Canada, Qatar, Switzerland, France, Poland, Sweden, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Netherlands, Thailand, Japan, Romania and Hong Kong, during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22).

The exports registered a 41.8% and 36.5% decline in weight and value respectively compared with the corresponding period of last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration figures were cited by the Persian daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.

�Iran supplies more than 50% of the world pistachio market,� deputy minister of industries, mining and trade, Mojtaba Khosrotaj said, adding that Iran�s main rival in pistachio production is the US state of California.