TEHRAN, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Iran sweets and chocolate exports have witnessed 13 percent increase in value and three percent in volume in the past Iranian calendar year, ended on March 20, 2017, compared to the previous year, Iran's Financial Tribune daily reported on Saturday.

Some 214,960 tons of sweets and chocolate, worth 580 million U.S. dollars, were exported to 66 countries in the past, the head of Iran's Sweets and Chocolate Association, Jamshid Maghazei, was quoted as saying.

"Sweets and chocolates account for around 30-40 percent of Iran's total food exports," Maghazei said.

The official said that Iran's priorities for exports have been regional countries, but since some neighboring states have experienced instability over the past years, Iran has shifted to European markets recently.

According to the report, central Asian countries are among major markets for Iranian chocolate.

Iran's East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan provinces are the main sweets and chocolate production hubs of Iran.

Maghazei said about 65,000 Iranians are directly working in sweets and chocolate production units in Iran.

Speaking of future plans and goals, Maghazei said plans are underway to increase exports upto 2 billion a year. Enditem

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