Shrimps are produced on 13,607 hectares of aquafarms this year, which shows a 12% increase in area compared with last year, according to the director general of Seafood Quality Improvement, Processing and Market Promotion Department with Iran Fisheries Organization.
“The southern Bushehr Province, with a total of 6,053 hectares, is Iran’s farmed shrimp production hub, followed by Hormozgan, also in the south of the country, with 5,280 hectares,” Isa Golshahi was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
The official noted that IFO is ahead of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22) projections in setting up shrimp farms, which had stipulated the establishment of 13,216 hectares of such facilities by the end of the plan.
Agriculture officials estimate farmed shrimp production in the last Iranian year (March 2020-21) reached around 52,000 tons.
Mokhtar Akhoundi, director general of Harvest Department of IFO, said shrimp harvest in Iran’s southern waters reached 6,657 tons in the last fiscal year, showing a 41% growth compared with the year before.
“The provinces of Khuzestan, Bushehr and Hormozgan accounted for 48%, 30% and 22% of last year’s overall shrimp harvest respectively,” he added.
According to Golshahi, a total of 28,000 tons of seafood worth $52 million were exported from Iran during the first three months of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21), showing a 12% and 9% rise in weight and value respectively year-on-year.
The exports included 15,600 tons of different kinds of fish, around 4,000 tons of shrimps and 713 tons of canned tuna, he added.
A total of 140,000 tons of seafood worth $430 million were exported from Iran to 26 countries during the last Iranian year.
Iran is a major seafood producer in the region with trout, caviar and shrimp being the main exported products of the fisheries sector.
Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari Province in southwest Iran accounts for 40% of seafood production.
The province has the capacity to produce 240,000 tons of seafood per year.
Middle East's biggest seafood production unit is active in the industrial city of Shahr-e Kord.
Located 97 km from the central Iranian province of Isfahan, Shahr-e Kord has the highest capacity for salmon breeding.
Golshahi said the country’s per capita seafood consumption reached 13.3 kilograms in the last Iranian year, up 3.9% from 12.8 kilograms in the year before.
