Tehran, Iran, July 25
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad, A. Shirazi - Trend:
Hassan Ahmadi Jazani, the deputy head of Iran’s Seafood Exporters Union, called on the government to help non-oil exporters to sell their currencies in the open market.
“I think that the government should be convinced and allow the firms that are not among petrochemical exporters as well as major private and state exporters to freely sell their currencies in the open market,” Ahmadi Jazani told Trend on July 25.
"There is no reason not to allow the exporters that are not much active to bring in their currencies," he added.
Ahmadi Jazani further said small businesses only make up 20 percent of the country's exports and the government needs to create a mechanism so that they can direct their currencies into the country.
“I think the government should monitor the foreign exchange market indirectly, and that the open market should resume its official activity,” he said.
Iranian authorities announced in April they were unifying the dollar’s official and open market exchange rates at a single level of 42,000, and banned any trade at other rates under the threat of arrest.
Elsewhere in the interview, he pointed to the country’s seafood industry, saying, “Exports of aquatic animal products will witness a boom in the second six months of the current Iranian fiscal year (started March 21)”.
The deputy head of Iran’s Seafood Exporters Union said 1,000 tons of shrimps are ready to be exported to China from the city of Bandar Abbas.
China, the Philippines, Spain, South Korea, France, Denmark, Belgium, Malaysia and India are among the main exporters of Iran’s seafood products.