Baku, Azerbaijan, March 17
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Managing Director of the Quality Improvement, Processing, and Development of Iran's Fisheries Organization, Isa Golshahi said that Iran's fishery export in the first 11 months of the current Iranian fiscal year (which started March 21) hit 52 thousand metric tons with a value of $173 million.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that the export decreased by 3 percent in both terms of weight and value compared to the same period the preceding year, Mehr news agency reported March 16.
The official further added that the reason for the slump was that the export of shrimp kicked off two months later than usual since the whole product had been sold by the end of the previous year and there was no shrimp for export in the first half of the current year.
The shrimp export initially suffered a 25-percent decrease because there was no shrimp to be exported the first 6 months of the year. But the surge in shrimp export started in December, Golshahi had said on March 10.
He had explained that in the Iranian month of Bahman (January 21 to February 19), 2,300 metric tons of shrimp were exported whereas the number was 600 metric tons for the same period of the preceding year.
Shrimp export for 11 months hit 10,020 metric tons, worth $47 million. This meant a share of 19 percent in weight and 24 percent in value of the total fisheries export.
He said that the exported products headed to Vietnam, China, South Korea, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Italy, and Spain.
Trout saw a 20-percent export growth, hitting 3,000 metric tons in the 11 months period, he noted.
According to Golshahi's 10-month report last month, the aquatic feed export was 1,754 metric tons, worth $1.734 million. The export growth was 2 percent for fish and 75 percent for ornamental aquatics. Also, the fisheries export jumped 33 percent in value and 79 percent in weight compared to the previous year.