Crucial factors that influence saffron price:
*Type of saffron
*The quality of saffron
*Cultivation’s place
Three crucial factors that influence saffron’s price include; type of saffron, the quality of saffron and its cultivation’s place.
First of all, to understand saffron’s price we should take a brief moment to understand saffron’s situation in the world and the question that what is saffron, after that we discuss saffron’s price based on its value.
The history of saffron goes back to centuries or even thousand years ago, in some ways seasoning and especially saffron had a special place in traditional medicine and cooking and there was a time that the price of saffron was even higher than gold. Saffron has been cultivated in numerous places in the world but it’s worth mentioning that the highest quality of saffron is cultivated in Iran and that is why Iranian saffron is among the most valuable saffrons of the world.
There are two important factors in evaluating saffron’s price which effect the Iranian saffron:
1.Iran is world’s biggest and first saffron supplier. Based on the statistics around 90 percent of the world’s saffron is supplied by Iran.
- More than 80 percent of cultivated saffron in Iran is exported overseas.
Now with considering these two factors alone we can come to a conclusion that if for any reasons saffron’s cultivating rate drops or saffron’s transportation to other countries faces problems, there will be a fluctuation in the prices of saffron (like the extreme fluctuation between the years 2020 to 2021).
Is the expensive price of saffron a sign for its high quality?
The price of saffron in the wholesale markets is more stable with a marked price compared to the price that is given to final costumers. Thus the high price of some brands is not specifically a sign for its high quality but the low price of saffron is definitely a sign for its low quality.
What are the major factors that influence saffron price in market?
Considering the variety of saffron with different qualities in the market, the important factor for you as a consumer is to figure out the saffron that is presented to you is original or fake so that you know the price is appropriate or not, therefore to help you with this task we’re going to discuss some factors down below:
1- Type of saffron
Saffron in the markets has different varieties:
Bunch saffron (Dokhtar peech), SARGUL saffron, POUSHAL saffron, pseudo-NEGIN saffron, super-NEGIN saffron and white root and auburn saffron.
Each type of saffron is the product of cleaning saffron flower and are fully explained under the types of saffron. Considering their coloring power, Bunch saffron is in the lowest rate and super-NEGIN saffron has the highest rate of coloring and the highest price.
2- Quality of saffron
The quality of saffron is the main factor that determines the price of saffron and the best way to recognize the quality is to test the saffron. In Mahuk complex all the purchased saffron goes through quality control unit before entering packing unit and coloring tests, Microbial load and if needed chemical test are also available. Saffron includes many special components such as Crocins (coloring power factor), Picrocrocin (taste power factor) and Safranal (scent power factor).
definition of these three factors determines the quality of saffron. The more these combinations exist in the saffron the higher its quality gets.
3- Cultivation area
Experience and test results shown that saffron is a psychrophilic plant so the cold regions in the winter are the best places to grow saffron. The more it’s cold the higher the quality of saffron gets.
4- Exchange rate fluctuation and exchange rate instability
As once we said, 80 percent of Iranian cultivated saffron is for export. It’s clear that changes in exchange rate causes changes in marked price and an increase in transportation costs. Based on the results of the surveys done in this area, exchange rate fluctuations are the most significant factor in the price of exported saffron.
The interesting point (interesting or unfortunate?) here is that instability of the market is in favor of exporters and the demand for the exported saffron got higher.
5- Zone climatic conditions
As mentioned before saffron’s corn starts its vital activities and blooms in cold weather, since this plants sensitive parts (corn and flower) are highly moisten it can easily get frozen with the extreme change in weather. Usually when the corn of saffron is buried in the appropriate depth this doesn’t happen to it but it has been frequently observed that the flower of saffron get frostbitten in some mountainous regions because of extreme drop in temperature.
Therefore, based on the damaged done possibility of supply gets lower and the price goes higher (the color of frostbitten saffron is darker and since its quality factors are low, its price is also low).
Long droughts are also considered a danger for saffron.
6- The cost of maintaining saffron fields
It’s obvious that changes in exchange rates effect the agricultural inputs used in farms (different types of chemical fertilizers) or even natural fertilizers. Increase of the wage of working labor in saffron fields also influence the final price of the product.
7- Iran’s business rivals
Even though the biggest part of saffron production is being handled in Iran but Iranian saffron rivals haven’t sit back and are trying to get more market, they’ve invested a lot of money in this business which not only threatens the place of Iranian saffron in the market but also changes the price of saffron. So before it’s too late there should be a wise planning about exporting saffron, especially because nowadays saffron is considered a luxurious and special item in the world and if we face problems in world’s business or financial arena (like Corona virus) it can cause a definite loss of demandant’s purchasing power and saffron exportation will also face a problem.
| No | The name of saffron | Specifications of quality & appearance of Saffron | IRR | $ | AED |
| 1 | Super Negin A++ | Stems without waves/ elongated/wide and voluminous | 380/000/000 | 1118 | 4106 |
| 2 | Super Negin A | Long stems | 370/000/000 | 1088 | 3996 |
| 3 | Negin preccy A | Long and wide stems | 350/000/000 | 1030 | 3783 |
| 4 | Negin B | Medium stems and dried by traditional method | 340/000/000 | 1000 | 3673 |
| 5 | Negin C | Medium/Thin stems and dried by traditional method | 330,000,000 | 970 | 3564 |
| 6 | Sargol | Medium stems / dried by traditional method | 325,000,000 | 956 | 3510 |
| 7 | Pushal Qalamdar A | Long stems | 305/000/000 | 897 | 3294 |
| 8 | Pushal B | Medium stems | 295/000/000 | 868 | 3187 |
| 9 | Pushal C | Medium/thin stems | 280/000/000 | 823 | 3024 |
| 10 | Bunch/Dasteh | Medium/Long | 235/000/000 | 691 | 2538 |
| 11 | Stile/white | Long | 30/000/000 | 88 | 324 |