TEHRAN – Cotton farming covered some 155,000 hectares of land across the country during the current farming year, showing over 50 percent decrease compared to the last year’s figure.

The average cotton farming coverage has been around 200,000 hectares in the past few years, the director of the country’s Cotton Research Center said, adding that the number has even fallen to 100,000 hectares in the new farming year. Earlier this year, a group of cotton industrialists had submitted a letter to the Agriculture Minister, warning him about the consequences of delays in subsidizing the industry and covering the production costs. The latter included figures indicating that Iran’s cotton production had fallen to its lowest amount since 1979.

Khuzestan Fisheries asks for funding to save phytophagus fish

AHVAZ, Khuzestan Prov. – More than 108,000 dollars (one billion rials) is required to save a plant eating fish species that lives in the rivers and wetlands of this southern Iranian province, the provincial Fisheries Department said Thursday.

“The project will be aimed at preventing huge losses of Haplochromis (Xystichromis) phytophagus that occurred in the past few years due to construction of numerous dams in the area,” he added, noting the dam construction projects have resulted in considerable changes in the regions’s marine ecosystem.

TSE down 43% for week

TEHRAN – Some 124 million shares were exchanged for Rls.336 billion during the last week’s trade (Jan. 20-Jan. 24) at the Tehran Stock Exchange.

This showed 43.4% drop in terms of volume compared to the previous weekly figures. The main index (TEPIX) fell to 9,994 on Wednesday and the secondary board index was down 25 points to 8,975, while the main board index rose 39 points to 10,077. The industrial index also dropped 72 points to 7,895.

First gold jewelry factory opens in Kish

KISH ISLAND, Hormozgan Prov. – The first jewelry manufacturing factory in Kish was opened this week at the southern Iranian island’s Industrial Park No. 1, ILNA reported Thursday.

The Golden Sun Kish Co., which claimed to have already created 80 jobs, will only make and sell gold jewelry. The factory’s annual output is projected to reach nine tons, which will mainly target the Persian Gulf littoral states. The Kish Island, which is a free trade zone, has an international airport and offers lenient visa issuing rules.