TEHRAN- The area under shrimp farming in the country has risen 12 percent in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21), as compared to the previous year, according to an official with Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO).

Isa Golshahi, IFO’s director-general for quality improvement, processing, and market development, said that the area under shrimp farming has reached about 13,607 hectares with an increase of about 12 percent compared to the previous year.

He stated that the highest area under shrimp farming belongs to Bushehr province (in the southwest of the country), adding that the area under shrimp cultivation in this province is about 6,053 hectares, which is 53 hectares more than the area targeted in the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021).

The official has recently stated that cooperation with the relevant organizations such as chambers of commerce, Trade Promotion Organization (TPO), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the non-governmental sector to open new markets in the international arena is one the agenda of the IFO’s plans.

Over the past two years, the efforts of the Aquatics’ Production and Trade Union of Iran, and the non-governmental sector have led to the addition of markets in countries such as Oman and Malaysia to Iran's target export markets in this field, he has noted.

Fishery production has increased noticeably in Iran in recent years.

Enjoying high quality, Iran’s fishery products were sold easily in the export markets, and also some new export destinations welcomed these products in the past two years; as new markets including China, South Korea, and the Eurasian Union nations opened up for Iranian fishery products.

As announced by the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA), the value of Iran’s non-oil exports reached $10.7 billion in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, up 69 percent compared to the last year’s same period.

According to Mehdi Mir-Ashrafi, Iran exported 30 million tons of non-oil commodities in the mentioned three months, registering a 38-percent rise compared to the figure for the last year’s Q1.

Iran's top five non-oil export destinations during this period were China with $3.1 billion worth of exports, Iraq with $2.3 billion, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with over $1.3 billion, Turkey with $595 million, and Afghanistan with $570 million.

MA/MA