Five varieties across roughly ten weeks of harvest, sourced, graded and shipped to a single specification — so one supplier covers the whole Iranian autumn.
Specification transcribed from the Iranian Fresh Apples Export Catalogue 2026. Figures are commercial benchmarks confirmed per lot and season, not guaranteed values for every orchard.
Market availability depends on season, specification and the destination’s import requirements.
Detail
Over 80 % red for Red Delicious, over 60 % for Gala and for Fuji's blush, under 10 % for the two greens. It is read at grading, declared per shipment on the carton label, and it is the field most likely to be checked on arrival.
Red fruit at the grading line.
Varieties
Two reds and two greens that are not interchangeable, and one that sits between them. Gala is striped at over 60 % coverage; Red Delicious is solid at over 80 %. Golden Delicious is sweet and aromatic; Granny Smith is acidic and markedly firmer.
The first of the five off the tree.
A separate Iranian study of Gala reported soluble solids around 14.6 ± 0.6 °Brix — which is why this range publishes a benchmark rather than a promised value.
The highest sugar benchmark of the three mid-season varieties.
The deepest colour cover of the five, and the variety Iranian exporters carry through winter into spring.
An Iranian post-harvest study selected commercially mature fruit at approximately 12 — 13 °Brix and 80 — 90 % red surface coverage. A range, not a single value.
The lowest sugar and the highest firmness of the five — the combination that makes it the long-storage and processing variety.
The highest sugar benchmark and the softest firmness benchmark of the five.
Sizing
Rather than a separate calibre scale per variety, the range uses a single commercial sizing table — which is how the fruit is actually sorted.
UNECE FFV-50 permits sizing by diameter or by weight and sets limits on uniformity within a package. For fruit packed in rows and layers, the difference in diameter must not exceed 5 mm.
Calibre and class are declared per shipment on the carton label, together with net weight and fruit count. Where a consignment mixes sizes, the declaration follows the pack.
The Iranian source publishes the overall 65 — 100 mm range and the common weight bands, but does not publish a weight for each calibre. The diameter-to-weight conversions above must be confirmed against PAYA ORIGIN's own sorting data before they become a product commitment.
Maturity benchmarks
These are benchmarks, not guarantees. They exist so a buyer can see how the varieties differ from each other — which is the question the numbers can actually answer.
≥ 12.0°
≥ 12.8°
≈ 12 — 13°
≥ 11.0°
≥ 14.0°
5.8 — 6.0
5.8 — 6.0
5.8 — 6.0
6.3 — 6.5
5.6 — 5.8
Sugar and firmness move with orchard, season and harvest date. A single promised number would fail on some lots and mislead on the rest.
Final acceptance limits are agreed with the buyer against the storage programme and the destination, then measured per lot.
Fuji at ≥ 14 °Brix and Granny Smith at ≥ 11 °Brix are three full points apart. They are not substitutes for each other.
Benchmarks combine Iranian commercial specifications with published Iranian research and are indicative, not guaranteed values for every orchard or lot. Firmness is measured with an 11-mm plunger and confirmed per lot.
Ten weeks
Side by side
The differences, without the twenty pages. Everything the five share is listed underneath.
A marked cell leads the range on that row. Common to all five: calibre 65 — 100 mm, fruit weight 80 — 180 g, classes Extra / I / II, HS code 0808.10, and storage of 2 — 7 months at −1 to +4 °C and 90 — 95 % RH. Brix and firmness are indicative benchmarks, not guaranteed values. Diameter-to-weight conversions and class definitions remain to be confirmed against PAYA ORIGIN sorting data and UNECE FFV-50.
Quality
Cold chain
Storage life for Iranian apples is reported at 2 — 7 months depending on variety and handling. Which end of that range a lot reaches is decided before it goes into store, not after.
Picked at commercial maturity for the variety.
Sorted by calibre and class; the packing record is opened.
Before loading, to bring pulp temperature down.
Held at approximately −1 to +4 °C and 90 — 95 % relative humidity.
Loaded cold, into a 40 ft reefer.
Temperature recording recommended throughout.
The source gives 2 — 7 months across all five varieties and publishes no figure per variety. Granny Smith and Red Delicious sit at the long end by harvest order and firmness; Gala and Fuji are planned closer to harvest rather than held to the end of the range. That placement is a planning guide, not a stated storage life. A cold-chain record is part of the shipment documentation set where the buyer requires it.
Compliance
This applies to every variety and every shipment, which is why it is set out once rather than repeated on five variety pages.
Certification held is named explicitly per shipment. Where a buyer's programme requires a certificate we do not hold, we say so before contracting rather than after inspection.
Packaging
Cold-chain from packhouse to port; carton and tray formats matched to the market.
Format, count, labelling language and compliance marks change by destination, so they are agreed with the specification. Exact formats and weights are confirmed product by product.
Packaging and private label
Tell us the grade, volume, packing format and delivery window. We will come back with what the origin and the season can actually hold — including when the answer is no.
