About a third of Iran’s tea factories have shut down because of a lack of support from the government, Shargh reported, citing Parviz Shabani, vice president of Iran’s union of tea producers.

Half of Iran’s tea farmers have become unemployed since the start of the Iranian year on March 20, Shabani said, according to the Tehran-based daily. Iran’s government has failed to pay some of the money it owes to the farmers, he said, without elaborating on the amount or the reason.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yeganeh Salehi in Tehran via Dubai.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.