Minister of Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati floated the idea of bartering Iranian shrimp for Norway’s salmon in a meeting with the Scandinavian country’s Minister of Fisheries Per Sandberg on Tuesday. The Norwegian minister is in Iran at the head of a 100-member delegation representing 62 companies for the opening of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Fishery Industries Exhibition, known as Iranseafex, scheduled for October 1-3. Iran exported more than 13,000 tons of shrimps worth $56.7 million to 19 countries in the last Iranian year (March 2015-16), indicating a 10% rise in volume compared with the previous year. Some 84% of the exports (about 11,000 tons) were shipped to the UAE and Vietnam. Other export destinations included the US, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, Russia, Mexico, Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman and Qatar. Salmon farming is significant in Norway. It is the source for most salmon consumed in the United States and Europe.
