A total of 121,000 tons of seafood and related products worth over $390 were exported from Iran during the first 10 months of the last Iranian year (March 21, 2019-Jan. 20, 2020), the director general of Seafood Quality Improvement, Processing and Market Promotion Department affiliated to Iran Fisheries Organization said.
“These products were exported mainly to European Union member states, Persian Gulf littoral countries, Iraq, Afghanistan, Russia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. These countries are Iran's long-standing seafood export markets. Last year, we also had exports to China and South Korea,” Isa Golshahi was also quoted as saying by Mizan Online.
The official noted that 28,000 tons worth more than $102 million of the total figure were related to shrimp exports.
Golshahi said farmed caviar exports stood at 800 kilograms during the period with the EU states, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, China and Russia being its main customers.
In the fiscal 2018-19, around 143,970 tons of seafood and seafood products worth $528 million were exported from Iran.
"We have been harvesting small, sardine-like fish as well as anchovy from our southern waters, which are dried or used to make fish powder. These have brought us lucrative markets in Sri Lanka, Oman, Thailand, Malaysia and other Far East countries,” Golshahi was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
Iran’s per capita seafood consumption currently stands at 12 kilograms per year.
According to Golshahi, IFO aims to bring this figure close to the annual global average of 20 kg.
The official noted that over the past few years, Iran has set up cages for fish farming in the sea as well as water bodies behind dams to expand the industry, adding that domestic demand for fish powder has increased. Part of the demand is supplied locally.
According to Mahmoud Hojjati, a former agriculture minister and now advisor to President Hassan Rouhani for agricultural affairs, Iran currently produces 1.3 million tons of seafood annually.
Iran exported 7,000 tons of seafood to Iraq in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020), a local official in Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province, said recently.
“The province produced more than 200,000 tons of seafood last year,” Tahmoures Fattahi told IRNA.
According to the official, the southwestern Iranian province accounts for 40% of Iran's seafood production.
Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, he added, has the capacity to produce 240,000 tons of seafood per year.
“Middle East's biggest seafood production units are operating in the industrial city of Shahr-e Kord,” he added.
Located 97 km from the central Iranian province of Isfahan, Shahr-e Kord has the biggest capacity for breeding salmon in Iran.
During the recent fishing season (Oct. 7, 2019-April 3), bony fish output in the northern Mazandaran Province bordering the Caspian Sea amounted to 3,600 tons, marking a decline of 48% compared to the previous year, according to the director general of the province’s Fisheries Organization.
“This volume of fish was worth 1.68 trillion rials [$10.5 million], indicating a 20% fall year-on-year. The fish caught included the Caspian kutum, mullet and common carp, which accounted for 73%, 14% and 13% of the total harvest respectively,” Valiollah Mohammadzadeh was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Every year, more than 4,200 fishermen engage in fishing along 338 kilometers of coastlines bordering Mazandaran for six months.
Due to favorable weather and the Caspian Sea water temperature, the fishing season started five days earlier this year and this year’s harvest was estimated to be exceptionally bountiful. Yet, fishing companies were forced to end their activity due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, to protect their fishermen.
