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www.internationalscholarsjournals.org © International Scholars Journals 
 
 
 

 

Full Length Research Paper 
 

Pomegranate marketing margins in the Neyriz, Iran 
 

 

Mahdi Babaei
1*

, Elahe Asemani
2
, Saeid Gazmeh

3
, Soheyla Rezazadeh Shamkhal

4
 and 

Ebrahim Shirmohammadi
5
 

 
1
Young Researchers Club, Neyriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyriz, Iran. 

2
Department of Agriculture Economic, University of Zabol, Iran. 

3
Department of Computer and Information Technology (IT), Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, 

Fars, Iran. 
 

Accepted 29 October 2013 
 

Marketing agricultural products while establishing a balance between supply and demand in various 
stages of production to final consumption stabilize farm income and satisfy consumer demand. 
Therefore, agricultural marketing study seems necessary. In this study, pomegranate marketing in 
Neyriz city of Fars province was investigated and its various marketing channels were also evaluated. 
The results showed that, the share of pomegranate growers and marketing margin are almost good. 
Lack of suitable storage and fridge was one of the major problems of pomegranate growers. For 
improvement of the current situation, the formation of a cooperative of pomegranate growers in the 
region is recommended, for decreasing production costs and making storages and fridges enough for 
regulation of demand and supply. 

 
Key words: Marketing, marketing margin, pomegranate, Neyriz city. 

 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
Marketing refers to all attempts made by economical job 
creators for planning, producing, distributing, selling 
products and giving service to end-users and meeting 
their needs. Marketing agricultural products, in addition to 
forcing a balance between demand and supply in various 
stages from production to end consumption, makes 
stabilization of the agriculture income and meeting 
consumer needs possible (Karbasi, 2009).  

Iran is birthplace of pomegranate and has the first rank 
of variability, quality, under cultivation area, production 
and export. Cultivation and culture of pomegranate has 
been common in Iran since the ancient era. Pomegranate 
fruit has been considered as a saint fruit by Muslims and 

the advantages of it are cited in 142 to 99
th

 paradigm of 
Sura Anaam. Presently, 70 acre of farms are under 
cultivation in our country which is intended to add 15 

more acres till the end of the 5
th

 program (Karimi, 2007). 
Fars  has  the  first  status  in  pomegranate  cultivation 

 
 

 
*Corresponding author. E-mail: mbabaei65@yahoo.com. 

 
 
 

 
among all provinces. The cities which have the most 
production cultivation area are Neyriz, Arsenjan, 
Kazeroon, Estahban, Jahrom, Marvdasht, Firooz abad, 
and Mamasani. Known species of pomegranate in the 
province are, Robab, Farough, Beritt, acidulent, Atabaki, 
shirin Shahsavaar keder, and green opaque sour. Export 
species of pomegranate are the best with view to quality, 
taste and market attention. Red grain of acidulent Robab 
species has been favoured in many countries especially 
in middle Asia. So, pomegranate can play a significant 
role in the economy due to its alimentary needs, 
economical value and export possibility. Pomegranate is 
pre-eminent among all horticultural products due to its 
potential for producing various kinds of alimentary and 
industrial products (Behzadi, 2000).  

Neyriz city has 10540 km
2
 of which 90000 acres of it, is 

fallow. 20000 people of this city are farmers which 
account for 18.6% of its total population. Average lands 
for each beneficiary is 3 acres. Its gardens account for 
53.3% of total lands of this city which is 48000 acres. The 
proportion of considered pomegranate gardens is 4000 
acres which makes this city a center of pomegranate 



Babaei  et al.              032 
 
 

 
production in our country. This county is a resource of 
pistachio, pomegranate, fig, almond, corn, wheat and 
malt due to its high potential for farming. With regard to 
the statistics of the year 1387, pomegranate had the most 
production harvest with 44% productions which was 
equal to 6000 ton, and ranked first in the production of 
other specialties of pomegranate. The weather of this city 
is semi-arid whose maximum temperature for a 20-day 
period in June to July is 43°C and the minimum for a 
week in December to January is -10°C (Jehad Agriculture 
Office promotion, 2009).  

The result obtained from evaluating the marketing 
margin of grape in Iran have indicated that during the 
considered period, average retailing margin of both 
products is more than the wholesale margin (Karbasi, 
2009). In investigating and analyzing efficiency and 
barberry marketing in Khorasan, marketing margin, 
retailing, wholesale and marketing efficiency have been 
evaluated and determined. Findings have indicated that 
increasing technical efficiency of barberry producers is 
possible by reducing distance between them. Marketing 
margin of retailing came from more wholesale 
(Dehghanian et al., 2007). Findings obtained from this 
study have indicated that indices of production, export 
and transportation costs are the most factors effecting 
marketing margin of potato. The main obstacles of 
marketing this product are small size, potato spoiling, 
seasonality of this product, expanding active marketers 
with different monetary capacity, price instability and 
fluctuation, lack of quality standards, grading and 
packaging etc. (Beik Zadeh, 2008). Review of marketing 
margin investigations in Iran have shown lack of 
evaluating one of the most important products in the 
production inventory and exporting non-oil products.  

Kizilaslan and Elmali (2012) investigated the effects of 
marketing structure of grapes on the consumers; the 
marketing margin was calculated based on the producer 
sale price and the market price (the consumer price) of 
grapes. The results show that the production of grape is a 
profitable activity, but it has been determined that the 
mediators between producers and consumers provide a 
higher income when compared to producers. The margin 
mediator is found to be 77.05%.  

Preliminary data and information were obtained from 
gardeners and pomegranate producers and interview with 
the manager of herbaceous production institute of Neyriz, 
and were achieved in form of questionnaire from 
mentioned reference for the year 2010. This research is 
aimed at recognizing pomegranate of the city and finding 
marketing troubles and giving comments to solve those 
problems. 
 

 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
 
Marketing margin 
 
Information about   each  of  these  variables  to  complete  the 

 
 
 

 
questionnaire and survey methods designed with the visiting 
farmers Neyriz city, were collected in 2009. The sample consisted 
of 248 farmers which were surveyed and the sampling method used 
is simple random sampling. Data processing and analysis were 
performed using Excel software. Marketing margin is described as 
divergence difference between purchase prices of a product in a 
competitive market which is determined by the producer. On the 
other hand, marketing margin include price of all activities and 
operations done by marketing institutes and dealers. So, the main 
scale for determining marketing margin is the difference between 
prices received by the end producers. Marketing margin is a 
function of distance, packaging and conversion, paid tax and duties, 
competition in market, volume mass of product, spoilage and 
calculated as follows: 
 
Mr = Pr – Pw 
 
Mw = Pw – Pf 
 
Mm = Mr + Mw = Pr – Pf 
 
Mr = retailing margin, Mw = wholesale margin, Mm = total market 
margin, Pr = retailing price, Pw = wholesale price, Pf = on farm 
price (Karbasi, 2009). 
 
 
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
 
In this study, pomegranate marketing in Neyriz city was 
investigated. Pomegranate production of this city has 
been 20 ton per acre on average for 4 successive years. 
Neyriz has achieved first place of pomegranate 
production in our country and the most harvest in this city 
was 116 ton per acre.  

With regard to national pomegranate congress, 
pomegranate of this city is known for pomegranate 
traders. Irrigation methods used in pomegranate gardens 
are 80% flood irrigation with 15 days period irrigation on 
average and little percentage is drip irrigation. Average 
income of each pomegranate beneficiary has been 50 
million Rials. Second and third grade pomegranate were 
delivered to concentrate factory for processing because 
price of first grade pomegranate is 800 and prices of 
second and third grades are 5000 and 2500 Rials, 
respectively. After processing, pomegranate sauce or 
juice is acquired per one kilogram, second and third 
grade pomegranate and will be sold 1000 Toman. The 
amount of export pomegranate in 1388 was 5000 ton 
whose canal is drawn formally and informally (Table 1). 
Pomegranate was exported to East Asia, Japan, Korea, 
Persian Gulf margin, Ukraine and some European 
countries at price of 15000 Rials. Farmer income per ton 
is summarized in Table 1. Harvest cost is 3000 
thousands Rials per each acre in year. Retailer 
expenditure by considering transportation and packaging 
cost in markets and self-consumption in addition to being 
far from market is 1000000 Rials per ton on average. The 
price of first grade pomegranate for market consumption 
is 8000000 Rials per ton which is given in retailer 
expenditure table. Store rent, operation and other costs 
are not available because the amount of daily retailer 

   



033       Afr. J. Agric. Mark. 
 

 
 
Table 1. Farmer income per each ton. 
 
  First grade pomegranate Second grade pomegranate Third grade pomegranate Total (Rials) 
 20125000 1000000 875000 22000000 

Source: Study data.    
 

 
sales is not accessible. It is considered that the price of 
the retailer sale is 12000 Rials, and then its income is 
12000000 Rials per each ton. If other expenditure is 
eliminated, its income will be 3900000 Rials.  

The mentioned costs are true for all selling and buying 
canals. Packaging cost paid by wholesaler is 2000000 
Rials per each ton which is for buying cartons and 
packaging cost is 1000000 Rials per ton. The most 
important expenditure is transportation cost which equals 
2500000 Rials considering its delivery to importers in 
Bandar Abbas. 8000000 Rials per ton were paid to 
farmers by wholesalers in 1388, total costs were 
11500000 Rials and product sales to exporters were 
15000 Rials which is the only exporter income and equals 
to 15000000 Rials per ton. In this study, it is assumed 
that the buying is performed by a factory but practically it 
is done by native dealers and 100000 Rials paid for 
dealing, transportation cost is 90000 Rials and buying 
price is 3000000 Rials per ton; the other costs of 
concentrate factory are not available, therefore, explicit 
statistics cannot be reported in this stage. Processed 
pomegranate was 2000 ton which was shipped to 
concentrate factory for processing by native dealers with 
the price of 2500 than 5000 Rials.  

Wholesale, retailing and all various sorts of 
pomegranate margins are cited for market delivery 
separately. Among the three sorts of pomegranate (first, 
second and third grades) 12500 kg of first grade 
pomegranate per ton are delivered for export marketing 
and 125 kg of the mentioned sort are kept for self-
consumption in the city. 250 kg of second grade and 250 
kg of third grade pomegranate are used for processing. 
Wholesale margin for the first path (export) is as follows: 
 
Considering the equation below and export price of 
pomegranate (which is 13000 Rials) and price of buying 
first grade pomegranate (which is 8000 Rials), the 
marketing margin for export is 5000 Rials: 
 
Mw = 13000 - 8000 = 5000 
 
Total market margin is calculated from difference 
between retailing price and on-farm price considering 
obtained data, retailing price in export is 15000 Rials, on-
farm price is 8000 Rials then total market margin is 7000 
Rials which is estimated by the stated equation: 
 
Mm = 15000 - 8000 = 7000 
 
Retailing margin is calculated from the difference between 

 

 
retailing price and wholesale price considering obtained 
data, retailing price in export is 15000 Rials, wholesale 
price is 13000 Rials then retailing margin is 2000 Rials 
which is estimated by the stated equation: 
 
Mr = 15000 - 13000 = 2000 
 
Wholesale margin for self-consumption path is calculated 
from difference between wholesale price and on-farm 
price considering obtained data, wholesale price is 13000 
Rials, on-farm price is 8000 Rials then wholesale margin 
is 5000 Rials which is estimated by the mentioned 
equation: 
 
Mw = 13000 - 8000 = 5000 
 
Total market margin for self-consumption path is 
calculated from the difference between retailing price and 
on-farm price or sum of retailing and wholesale margins 
considering obtained data, retailing price in export is 
15000 Rials, on-farm price is 8000 Rials then total market 
margin is 7000 Rials which is estimated by the mentioned 
equation: 
 
Mm = 15000 - 8000 = 7000 
 
Retailing margin in self-consumption path is calculated 
from the difference between retailing price and wholesale 
price considering obtained data, retailing price in export is 
15000 Rials, wholesale price is 13000 Rials, then retailing 
margin is 2000 Rials which is estimated by the mentioned 
equation: 
 
Mr = 15000 - 13000 = 2000 
 
With regard to obtained statistics, marketing margins in 
both paths are identical; meanwhile the only privilege of 
the first market is its great volume. 
 
 
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
 
One of the features of agricultural products is that they 
are produced in a short period under natural conditions 
but consumed in a longer period. For example, wheat 
which is the main food in household basket of Iranian 
consumers is produced in a short period and consumed 
in the same period of that year. One of the problems 
related to seasonality is that when the need for 
transportation vehicles increased in the harvest season, 



Babaei  et al.              034 
 
 

 
transportation cost increased as well. Additionally, if the 
product is not been delivered to store on time, more 
spoilage would occur. Storing problems and fridge loss 
result in severe spoil.  

Presently, almost 20% of agriculture products are 
spoiled. From farm to consumption place with lack of 
marketing operation (transportation, storing and 
conversion), spoilage can be reduced. Spoilage reduction 
leads to supply increment. By increasing the capacity of 
concentrate factory and making fridge available, this 
problem can be resolved. As proposed by the manager of 
the Agriculture Institute and Pomegranate Producers 
Union with respect to the main problems of pomegranate 
in the year 2009 (storing problem and fridge loss to store 
product and sell it), government policies and decisions in 
the political-economical sector play an important role in 
every market. 

 
 
 

 
REFERENCES 
 
Behzadi SH (2000). Disperse and variability of pomegranate species in 

Iran. J. Agric. Econ. 1(3):31-37  
Beik zadeh S, Chizari H (2008). Investigating marketing and factors 

effecting on marketing margin of potato. Develop. Agric. Econ. 
15(57):113-200.  

Dehghanian S, Shahnooshi N, Azin far Y (2007). Investigating, 
analyzing and marketing barberry producers in Khorasan. Agriculture 
and natural sources science. FAO, Uhttp://apps.fao.  

Karbasi A (2009). Evaluating marketing margin of grape and raisin in 
Iran. J. Econ. Agric. Dev. (Agricultural Science and Technology), 
23(2):95-102  

karimi N (2007). Abstract of articles of national pomegranate congress 
in Neyriz city. J. Agric. Econ. 4(1):77-92.  

Kizilaslan H, Elmali O (2012). Grape production costs and marketing 
margins in turkey. J. New Results. Sci. 1:26-32 

 


