Muthanna’s date season sends 40 to 50 tonnes a day to market

SAMAWAH — Between 40 and 50 tonnes of fresh dates leave the wholesale market in Samawah each day as Muthanna’s rutab season runs, with prices ranging from about 1,000 dinars a kilogram to as much as 10,000 depending on variety.

Farmer Saad Abu Khalid said the season runs from July 15 to Oct. 15. Amrani, also called Saamran, and Khadrawi come early, followed by Barhi, Breim and Maktoum, with Balakat al-Akoul, a Muthanna variety, arriving late. Some Samawah dates hold their taste for 10 to 15 days in transport and storage, he said, which he put down to the local soil — where varieties grown elsewhere can begin to change after about three days. Amrani travels best because of its drier texture.

Salam Alwan, a farmer who owns a wholesale market, said he handles eight to 10 tonnes a day himself out of the 40 to 50 leaving the market. Demand is strongest for Barhi and Breim, he said, while buyers in distant governorates ask for Amrani because it stands up to the journey.

The crop goes to Baghdad and other Iraqi governorates and abroad to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, Turkey and Sweden, Abu Khalid said.

Iraq had more than 22 million palms as of May, the Agriculture Ministry says, up from about 12 million in 2003, which it attributes to new orchards, tissue-culture planting, modern irrigation and pest control. The country has more than 600 local varieties, and exported over 600,000 tonnes of dates in 2025 along with more than 100,000 tonnes of date paste.