Saturday, August 11, 2007

Iran's Flower Export

Iran's Fauna came as a surprise, perhaps.

But did you know that Iran exports half a million dollar worth of flowers per month? I did not! I didn't even know that Tehran has a flower market! However, everytime I am in Iran I am astonished by the low cost of the most glamorous bouquets that the flower shops (virtually present at the corner of every block) offer.


Currently, the Arab states in the Persian gulf are the primary customers of Iran's flower, but South Asian and European markets are being explored.


More pictures of amazing Iran, by Shahram Razavi

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

naj:

You should not be astonished by the low prices when you earn hard-currency while the Iranian currency, over the last 28 years, has become progressively weaker and weaker.

pen Name

Naj said...

:)

Pen,

Well I always thought Iran imports flowers, so I thought the prices should be comparable to what we pay; but they were much cheaper than my calculations.

nunya said...

The pictures are lovely.

*sigh*

Just lovely.

Larry said...

I wasn't aware of this, and sadly I must admit, I never even thought of it.

Lydia Cornell has a post up about the symphony in Iraq.

I bet you know of some in Iran.

Naj said...

Larry,
of course

Iran has EVERYTHING, other than bars, discos, and nude dancers! (No public ones at least, and i don't know of private ones, but may be there are)

Oh yes, Iran doesn't have school shootings either. :)

Larry said...

That is interesting about the symphony in Iran.

In the U.S we never hear about symphonies, or importing flowers or female cab drivers, or anything positive.

All we hear is how the western monkey wants war.

Naj said...

All i can do is to spread the word.
I refuse to believe ordinary humans will knowingly and willingly destroy beautiful things.

We don't need guns, we need roses ...

Larry said...

I like that, "we don't need guns.. we need roses."

Profound and true!

Fans and Friends of Lydia Cornell said...

Wow, I am so impressed with the beauty of Iran. And the people too.

I have many Persian/Iranian friends here who fled Iran years ago because they were Jewish. My son has several good friends in this community.

I would love to visit Iran. I hear the secular intellectuals, scientists, artists and scholars are the majority, not Islamic extremists, as Bush & Cheney want us to believe. Why are they so ruled by fear and materialism? They seem to have no spiritual evolution whatsoever.

Thank you for a beautiful blog.

Anonymous said...

All:

Iranian Jews had been leaving Iran for several decades; many immigrated to Israel before the Islamic Revolution. As every thing else in life, some where happy in Israel and some where not and regretted their decision.

The numbers really picked up after the Islamic Revolution since the revolutionaries coveted the jobs and positions that professional classes had - they wanted to reward their own people.

Almost all Iranian Jews that I persoanlly knew were not overtly religious - they had the same outlook on life and religion as non-religious Muslims or Armenians for that matter; trying to get along and not paying too much heed to what the religious people are saying.

All that came to an end with the Islamic Revolution - many many non-religious people - Muslim, Christian, Jew, Baha'i, Zorastrian were unjustly kicked out of their jobs, or their businesses by the Muslim zealots.

Many left for the sake of their children, or so they claimed. Interestingly, most of these people - Jew, Muslim, Christian, Baha'i went to US were they could remain non-religious but I think their children have regressed [from their parents' point of view] and have become more religious!

I regret the departure of all Iranians from whatever religion from Iran. I am keenly aware of the loss and and am sorry for the loss of that atmosphere of religious tolernace and liberality that existed for a few short decades in certain areas of Northern Tehran.

I am sorry for all these exiles for US or Israel or Europe will never be Iran and I hope some day their descendants will choose to come back to their ancestral land to live and work. Barring that, they at least have taken something of Iran to that colorless land called US.

pen Name

enigma4ever said...

This is amazing...and so beautiful....thank you, you always have such interesting things to share...

Anon-Paranoid said...

I hope that our insane leaders won't destroy what beauty you have in your country.

That would be another sin they would have to pay for one day.

God Bless.

billie said...

lovely naj. i think it is important- beyond the mundane- for westerners to realize that iran is a country like any other on the planet. capable of great beauty as well as stupidity. the same could be said for america.

Naj said...

Well I agree with the beauty part, Betmo ... But I don't think Iran has done or is capable of doing anything as grandly stupid as what America is doing in the name of foreign policy.

Do you think Iran's demands for
1- self determination
2- national security
3- economic growth
4- nuclear energy (while enrolled in NPT)
5- respectful, amicable and peaceful relation with its neighbors

Are these stupid??

Has Iran claimed that it wants to topple the American regime?
Has Iran sent its navy to gulf of mexico?
Has Iran threatened US that either give us what we want or we will bomb your infrastructure?
Has Iran asked US or Israel to disarm and totally surrender to Ilamic Republic's demands?
Has Iran financed towards a velvel revolution in America?
Has Iran started bombing Iraq because it was housing the MKO, the TERRORIST and armed opposition against Iran?

nunya said...

Naj sez:

Oh yes, Iran doesn't have school shootings either. :)

lol, hey maybe they should encourage the worship of capitalism?

ok, bad joke, I know, I know

ps, larry, does anybody really take der monkey füh·rer seriously?

Naj said...

Ouch I saw a church shooting on TV? (I don't stay too long on such footage; but maybe ze monkeee can fight terror at home before abroad!)

Anonymous said...

Naj,

A correction and a link:

According to the department of agriculture during the fiscal year 2004-5 Iran exported 12 Million U$ dollars worth of flower products.

Here is a link to an interview (in Persian), published a few months ago in the Magazine for the Advanced Iranian Managers:
Link here

Ciao,

Naj said...

oh so that makes is 1,000,000$ per month.
Actually in th report I link to, that was their projection, 980,000$ or so, because of European frost!

Thanks!