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.
