If you've priced kurma medjool palestine and then priced Iranian dates like Sayer or Mazafati side by side, the gap can look strange at first — Medjool often costs two to three times more per kg. The reason isn't just marketing. It comes down to what each fruit is grown for and how far it travels.
Medjool is priced as a fresh, large-format eating date
Medjool trees are cultivated specifically for size and softness — the dates are picked, sorted by hand, and shipped in ways that protect their shape, mostly from Jordan, the West Bank, and increasingly California. That handling is labour-intensive and the cold-chain shipping to keep them soft adds real cost. Grade matters too: Jumbo and Super Jumbo Medjool, sorted for uniform size and minimal sugar crystallisation, sit at the top of the price range.
Iranian dates are priced differently because they're grown differently
Sayer and Mazafati come from much larger production volumes in Iran's Khuzestan and Kerman regions, harvested mechanically or semi-mechanically on a bigger scale. They're often sold in bulk cartons rather than individually sorted trays, which keeps the per-kg cost down even after import into Malaysia. That doesn't make them lower quality — it makes them a different category of product, closer to an everyday eating or cooking date than a gift-box date.
What actually drives the price you see
- Origin and distance travelled — Middle Eastern and Iranian dates both ship to Malaysia, but packaging format differs a lot.
- Grade and sorting — hand-sorted Jumbo Medjool costs more to produce than bulk-graded Sayer.
- Season — prices on both firm up close to Ramadan when demand across all varieties rises.
Which one should you buy
For gifting, hampers, or a premium eating experience, Medjool's size and softness justify the price. For everyday consumption, baking, or where price per kg matters more than presentation, Sayer and other Iranian varieties do the job well. See our guide to Iranian Sayer dates for what to look for when buying, or our grading and pricing guide for how Malaysian suppliers structure their price tiers across varieties. Browse our full range on the homepage.