production of dates
How much Dates are being produced in the world?
This is what we want to see now and find out how much Date is being produced in every continent:
In all of our article we usually talk about that the middle east is the biggest producer of Dates in the world. However, this doesn’t mean that Dates are only produced in this part of the world and because of the trading business being an old and popular way of expanding and having any product in any part of the world.
This is how the palm tree made its way from the middle east to all the western and eastern countries.
This shows us that other countries, as well as the middle eastern countries, have an impact on the production of Dates. It’s important to mention that palm trees are quit sturdy and that’s why they can grow and survive in almost any part of the world.
Now it’s time to see the statistics of The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) about Dates. Production of dates is done in an area of around 1.09 million cubic meters and produces dates more than 8.5 million tons of this fruit every year from 5 thousand different palm trees around the world.
The FAO is composed of 195 members (including 194 countries and the European Union). It is headquartered in Rome, Italy, and maintains regional and field offices around the world, operating in over 130 countries.
It helps governments and development agencies coordinate their activities to improve and develop agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and land and water resources. It also conducts research, provides technical
assistance to projects, operates educational and training programs, collects data on agricultural output, production, and development.
58.8 percent of Dates are cultivated in Asia and 43.4 percent in Africa. The Arabian countries of the world have 77 percent of this production to their names which makes 6.6 million tons per year.
160 million palm trees are in Arabian countries and after Egypt, Iran, Aljazeera, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan, Oman, Tunisia, Lebanon, China, Morocco, Quiet, Yemen, Israel, USA, Turkey and Qatar are the strongest producers of Dates and palm trees.
All The Different Types of Dates Around The World:
It’s important to mention that there is more than 3 thousand types of Dates all around the world but all these different varieties are not available in every country. For example, Iran has almost 400 to 600 types of Dates yet with the weather and atmospheric limitations we can’t have all these types of Dates.
Many Date types produced in the world are almost similar to one another even though there are specific verities in each country. As an example, Piarom Dates and Mazafati Dates are just produced from Iran and even if they would be cultivated in other parts of the world, they would not have the same quality or taste.
This is due to the agricultural and atmospheric properties of each country that doesn’t allow the Dates to grow or have the same quality as the original.
This limitation in cultivation is a very important. Let’s say if a specific Date is only cultivatable in Iran, this doesn’t mean all around the country this fruit can be grown.
Only specific regions of Iran enable the cultivation of this Date. Mazafati Dates are mostly cultivated in Bam city but can be cultivated in Bushehr, Jiroft and other cities of Kerman. But neither of these cities can produce the same Mazafati Dates as Bam.
The world is witnessing Iran’s strength in competing with Arabian countries when it comes to the exporting of Dates. With more Arabs around the world they have more influence in the exporting of Dates.
Now, let’s talk about 5 biggest countries that produce Dates:
Egypt ranking as the top cultivator:
Egypt produces 1.7 million tons of Dates every year which would be the highest in the world. This country provides 21 percent of world Date production.
You would be interested to know of these 1.7 million tons only 3 percent of the production is exported making Egypt the 12th exporter in Dates. Exporting to 63 other countries like Indonesia, morocco, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Thailand. With 15 million palm trees in alwadi jaded, asvaan, aljezeh, alsharghie, albehrie, damiat, matrah and north of sina provinces.
Saudi Arabia ranking as second cultivator in the world:
According to FAO statistics, Saudi Arabia’s consumption of Dates in Ramadan is around 250 thousand tons for people who are visiting this country to fulfill their prayers for hajj and umrah.
Saudi Arabia produces 1.5 million tons of Dates per year with 75 different varieties making it the second highest production in the world which would be around 17 percent of the world’s product. Saudi Arabia exports around 215 thousand tons to 107 countries around the globe.
Saudi Arabia is aiming to reach rank one in production of Dates for the future. There are more than 31 million palm trees in Saudi Arabia which is around 107 thousand acres of land in this country. Riaz and Alghasim have the most palm tree in Saudi Arabia. Every residence in Saudi Arabia consumes almost 26 kilograms of Dates every year.
Iran ranking as third cultivator in the world:
In future articles we will talk about Iran’s production and statistics in detail. However, we should mention here that Iran produces almost more than 1 million tons of Date every year. This statistic changes due to the agricultural and atmospheric limitations.
Aljazeera ranking as fourth cultivator in the world:
Aljazeera has been one of the top 5 producers of Dates for years. Aljazeera has 18 million palm trees with 900 thousand tons Dates every year. As mentioned by Altaher Bolnavar, Aljazeera exports 5 percent of its Dates production (around 45 thousand tons) to Russia and France and around 600 thousand tons which would be around 80% of their production is consumed in the country. Dejlatalnoor, aldaghlalbeyza and tafzoyin is the best Date product of Aljazeera.
Iraq ranking as fifth cultivator in the world:
According to Iraq central intelligence, this country had 735 thousand tons from 17 million palm tree of Date production and has the fifth ranking in the production of Dates in the world.
Statistics show us that the average exported Dates from Iraq was about 600 thousand tons to countries like, Turkey, India, Egypt, Syria, Jordon, UAE, China, Bangladesh and some European and American countries. Alkhostavi, alhazraavi, aljamaali, alhalaavi and a few more are the most famous Date fruits in Iraq.
Lastly Tunisia with 345 thousand tons or production and Oman with 340 thousand tons are at sixth and seventh rank in the world. According to FAO in 2018 the world Date council have 21 percent of the world’s Dates production with 9.24 percent for Saudi Arabia, 5.82 percent for UAE, 4.42 percent for Oman, 1.07 percent for Quite, 0.36 percent for Qatar and 0.13 percent for Bahrein.
Conclusion:
Even though Iran has an acceptable amount of Date production, the exporting quantity is not sufficient. The quality of Iran’s Dates is something to behold all around the world and many countries prefer the Iranian Dates.
However, because of the global situation the exporting and importing of Iran’s Date has been a challenge. Hopefully in the future these challenges would be solved and we can be the first in quality and quantity when it comes to this product.
