One error in my previous posting was that the growers in Iran are not the ones trying to control the sizes for export but the Government... The Iranian Government is trying to get higher prices for the saffron they export and thereby increase wages of the pickers, etc. in true Coop fashion...
They have begun raising prices in 2005 with the creation of the "Co-op" and as there was no resistance to those levels at that time, they jumped all the way this year... The crop shortages supported this and the global markets have few alternatives.
I understand that prices out of Iran went as higher then $1300 per kilo (FOB Tehran)... This is an advance of 4 X the price levels of 2005!!!
New Plants are sure to be started but they take a solid 2 years before there is any yield...
SOOOOO.... Coupled with the Iranian Governments Coop to control the prices and the market, I would not expect much relief to these levels with the coming Fall Harvest 2007...
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Sample the product you buy by testing it for added non saffron stigmas... How? Drop a few into a clear glass of water...
I attach a photo of this test... Look first at the color difference... The true Saffron should not bleed into the water... The water should be a Yellow Saffron Color not a dark Orange... The Stigmas should not Sink, but should float... The added colored straw in the glass on the right shows saturation and sinking... You can see some of filaments fatten up in the water!
It is this colored straw that was added to stretch the saffron amount (unknowingly to the buyer) that bleeds the dyed orange and sucks in the water and then starts to sink...
This was done before prices went WAY HIGH... So you can imagine that the level of "additives" to the "saffron" is going up relative to the high prices...
Buyer Beware indeed!
