Azerbaijan's Pomegranate Exports Surge, Facing Climate Challenges

Azerbaijan exported €48.2 million worth of pomegranates and pomegranate products in 2025, making the fruit one of the country's fastest-growing non-oil exports.

Around 23,000 hectares of orchards now supply fresh fruit, juice, concentrate, wine and seed oil to 26 countries, from Gulf states to markets across Asia. That puts Azerbaijan up against established exporters such as Iran, Turkey and Spain, all of which sell pomegranates at scale.

"For Azerbaijan, the pomegranate is an integral part of our nation's cultural heritage, with a history spanning nearly 2,000 years, symbolising abundance, prosperity, and well-being," Farhad Garashov, chairman of the Pomegranate Producers and Exporters Association of Azerbaijan, told Euronews.

Azerbaijani producers point to a mix of indigenous varieties, EU-compatible phytosanitary standards and proximity to European and Gulf markets as their main advantages. More than 200 varieties are cultivated, concentrated in the Kur-Araz lowland and the Goychay district.

The best-known internationally is Guloysha, prized for its thin skin, high juice content and sweet-sour flavour. Other varieties, including Valas, Shah Nar, Nazik Gabig and Bala Mursal, offer distinct colours and flavours that producers use to stand out on supermarket shelves abroad.

"This rich heritage is one of the defining characteristics that distinguishes Azerbaijani pomegranates in international markets," said Garashov, whose organisation represents more than 500 farmers and exporters.

Longer shelf life a plus for exporters

Fresh fruit still dominates, but processed products, including juice, concentrate and oil, are giving producers a longer selling season.

Cold storage, processing plants and logistics infrastructure now let them supply buyers year-round rather than only during the autumn harvest.

Foreign buyers and large supermarket chains are demanding stricter phytosanitary standards, consistent fruit sizes and international packaging, requirements that are pushing smallholders toward new financing instruments and partnerships.

"Agriculture in Azerbaijan has entered a new stage of development that focuses not only on increasing production volumes, but also on branding high value-added agricultural products," the director of the Agrarian Innovation Centre under the Ministry of Agriculture, Anar Jafarov, told Euronews.

Climate change concerns

Yusif Lazgiyev, operations director at Az-Granata — a privately owned juice and beverage company that operates 332 hectares of its own orchards and supplies concentrate and bottled juice to export markets — said this year's harvest was significantly reduced after cold and rainy weather in late May and early June prevented the second of the pomegranate tree's three seasonal flowerings.

"Pomegranate trees normally blossom three times a season. This year, the pomegranates in our gardens blossomed only once due to climate change, and this has caused productivity and yield to drop," Lazgiyev told Euronews. "The rain washed the existing blossoms away."

He said yield losses from a single flowering cycle run to 15% to 20%, and that temperature swings between night and day were also causing disease to spread more quickly in orchards. Wine production this year was down 30% to 40% compared with 2025.

Garashov said the industry had identified drip irrigation, digital water management and improved water efficiency as priorities in response to higher temperatures and more frequent drought.

"Climate change, rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, and increasing water scarcity have become major concerns for all producers," he said.

The Goychay Pomegranate Festival, held each October in the district of Goychay, roughly 200 kilometres west of Baku, draws tens of thousands of visitors annually and serves as both a cultural celebration and a trade event where producers meet buyers, showcase new varieties, and negotiate export contracts.

It was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2024, following an initiative led by First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva. It is organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and coordinated by its Agrarian Innovation Centre.

"This UNESCO recognition demonstrates the exceptional cultural value of the pomegranate for the Azerbaijani people while further enhancing the international visibility of the 'Made in Azerbaijan' brand," Garashov said.