TEHRAN- Iran Fisheries Organization (IFO) has planned the annual production of 130,000 tons of shrimp by the Iranian calendar year 1404 (March 2025-March 2026), an official with the organization announced.

Morteza Afrasiabi, the acting head of the IFO’s fishery development department, said, “To almost double the shrimp production, we anticipate its requirements, including working capital, construction of new sites and farms, development funds, and mechanization development.”

The official further said that shrimp production is anticipated to reach 70,000 tons in the next Iranian year.

Afrasiabi stated that 60-65 percent of the costs of the aquaculture and shrimp sector are allocated to feed supply, adding that the supply of feed is one of the challenges facing the industry, because producers in this field provide feed with free market forex rate, and this is the case that increases production costs and consumption prices.

The official has recently announced that Iran’s farmed shrimps export stood at $150 million since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2021).

Afrasiabi said that 57,800 tons of shrimps were farmed in 14,034 hectares of aqua farms during the said time span, about 75-80 percent of which was exported to the European, Asian and regional markets.

He named Turkey, Iraq, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, Spain and France as some of the export destinations of Iran’s farmed shrimps during the mentioned period of time, and said China and UAE stood at the top of the list.

In last August, an official with Iran Fisheries Organization announced that the area under shrimp farming in the country has risen 12 percent in the current Iranian calendar year.

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 also 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.

MA/MA