A Review on Production, Import and Export of Medicinal Plants of Iran

Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture announced that medicinal plants are 8% and they are exempt from value-added tax.Their export too, is exempt from charges and taxes. However, they require a permit from Plant Protection Organization or any other organization which determines buyers. The difference between medicinal plants and medicine is that, medicine is usually in the form of doses or fixed numbers, for a period of treatment of a disease, it is prescribed by a doctor and named in a pharmacopoeia of a country, whereas medicinal plants do not have such conditions and they are mainly listed under the 1211 commercial codes. Furthermore, their entrance requires a permit from Ministry of Health and Medical Education and Iranian National Standards Organizations.

According to the statistics released by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Customs, in the first ten months of the year, number one export of medicinal plants was from Shahid Rajaee Customs, weighing 368 tonnes, with the value of over 25 billion rials, and the second place with the most exports of this product, is the special zone of Dogharoun Customs of Khorasan-Razavi, with the total exports weighing 931 tonnes, valuing over 21 billion rials.

350 Iranian Companies are Active in the Field of Medicinal Plants 

Fariborz Gheibi, the adviser of Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization and the general manager of the Dry Land Forestry Center, said, “350 domestic companies are active in the field of medicinal plants. So far 8425 plants species have been identified, 2500 of which are medicinal species. Using such potential, we can lay the groundwork for providing employment opportunities in the country.

Ways to Strengthen Medicinal Plants’ Exports

Making a coherent network chain of supply in import, production and export of plants and flowers of the country, strengthening fast and mechanized transportation network for the collection of products and their export, ground-laying and support of the government for the participation of investors and foreign buyers in the process of production and export, rapidly completing and exploiting the export terminals in order to provide for the consumer market, all of these are among the main strategies for the expansion of medicinal plants’ export of the province.