TEHRAN -- Iranian exports of highly-prized caviar have declined 60 percent since March, compared with the same period last year, a senior official said, blaming the Sept 11 attack for the snag, press said Monday.

The Head of the Iranian Fisheries Trade Company, Mohammadreza Hosseini, said this was due to a decrease in the number of international flights, in which part of the exported Iranian caviar is served, after the terror attack on American landmarks.

"Because of declining demand for caviar in the world market, only 10 tons of this staple have been exported, which compares with 25-30 tons of the country's exports a year ago," the paper quoted him as saying.

Hosseini said caviar prices in the world markets had also plunged between 10 to 15 percent. Each kilo of the Iranian caviar currently sells for 650 euros in the international market, he added.

Last year, Iran exported 70 tons of caviar, mainly to Europe, the major market for the Iranian caviar, accounting for 80 percent of the exports.

He said, the decline started right after the Sept.

11 attack during October, November and December, when Iran exports most of its caviar.

Iran is expecting its annual caviar production to top 100 to 150 tons by 2010, the Head of the Iran's Fisheries Research Institute, Sohrab Rezvani said in August.

Iran, along with Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, accounts for 90 percent of world trade in black caviar, which earns $100 million for them annually.

The four latter states pledged in June not to fish sturgeon this year, after the standing committee, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) warned that the Caspian Sea poaching had reached the scale of organized crime and amounted to 13 times the legal catch, putting the sturgeon population on the brink of extinction, IRNA reported.