Head of the State Tea Organisation (STO) Mohammad Ali Najafi said Iran expected to export 20,000 tonnes this Iranian year which began on March 21 -- 4,000 tonnes more than in the previous year.

Newspapers quoted him as saying Greece, the Netherlands,Russia and the United Arab Emirates were among importers of Iranian tea.

Iran consumes around 100,000 tonnes of tea a year of which around 30,000 is imported, mostly from India.

Iran's agriculture minister Issa Kalantari said last week efforts were under way to encourage private investment in the tea sector. ``One of the problems of the tea industry is that it is run by the state,'' he said.

The minister also offered to help farmers in northern Iran to convert rice fields to tea, which he said was more cost-effective. Around 34,000 hectares of land are under tea cultivation in northern Iran,a humid region on the Caspian Sea which also grows much of the country's rice and citrus.