Iran saffron prices stumble to record lows amid virus surge in Europe
The price of the Iranian saffron, a premium quality spice believed to have high healing powers, has stumbled to lows never seen in decades as a coronavirus pandemic hits major customers in Europe.
A major Iranian saffron trader said on Thursday that prices have been down by more than a half in recent weeks and reached a point where even the illegal trade of saffron across the eastern Iranian borders is no longer tenable.
Ali Hosseini, a member of Iran’s National Saffron Association, said that prices are now plummeting to $400-500 per kilogram of the spice, levels that had never been seen since the 1980s and 1990s.
Hosseini said that the main reason for depressed prices was record low demands from Spain and Italy, the two main destinations for Iran’s saffron exports.
Italy and Spain have become the hardest-hit nations in the world by a new coronavirus outbreak that has infected over 200,000 people in the countries and led to nearly 25,000 deaths.
Spain has always been on top of Iran’s list of saffron exports with companies in the European country buying the spice in significant volumes to process it for use various industries like food and pharmaceuticals.
International saffron prices saw a major boom over the past years and reached all-time highs of $1,100 per kilogram.
The expensive spice had become popular among smugglers who shipped it to countries like Afghanistan to send it to Europe as American sanctions on Iran sometimes intervened with direct exports.
Hosseini said China, the country where the new coronavirus disease originated nearly four months ago, had also slashed its demand for the Iranian saffron.
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