KABUL, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan has exported saffron worth over 29 million U.S. dollars over the past nine months, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's spokesman Akhundzada Abdul Salam Jawad said Saturday.
"During the nine months of the 1403 solar year (in the Persian calendar the year 1403 started from March 20) about 42,200 kg of saffron, worth 29,588,000 million dollars were exported," the private media outlet Tolonews quoted Jawad as saying.
The valuable spice, locally known as "red gold" in Afghanistan, has been mostly exported to India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Spain, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom, Jawad said.
Saffron has usually been cultivated in the western Herat province.
Afghanistan's main export items include coal, saffron, fresh and dry fruits, hand-woven carpets, precious and semi-precious stones. ■