TEHRAN- Iran’s value of fishery export has risen six percent during the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020-January 19, 2021), compared to the same period of time in the past year, according to an official with Iran’s Fishery Organization (IFO).

Isa Golshahi, IFO’s director-general for quality improvement, processing, and market development, put the ten-month fishery export at 114,000 tons worth $399 million, which was also four percent more than the last year’s figure in terms of weight.

This year, with the completion of technical instructions and the launch of two industrial units for the production of dried fish and tiny dried fish, another product has been added to the country’s fishery export basket, the official announced.

He stated that the amount of dried fish exports reached about 18,000 tons with an approximate value of $18 million, adding that Oman, Myanmar and Malaysia are among the country's new export target markets.

Golshahi further expressed hope that through the export expansion plans, the country can achieve at least three new export markets and several new export products will be added to the export basket in the next year.

The official put the country’s fishery consumption per capita at 13.3 kilograms.

Fishery production has increased noticeably in Iran in recent years.

The country’s annual fishery output stood at 1.28 million tons in the past Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19, 2020), while the planned figure was 1.25 million tons. This amount of output was achieved despite the sanctions and related difficulties in the previous year.

The output is anticipated to reach 1.5 million tons this year.

The country’s fishery export stood at 146,000 tons worth $538.9 million in the past year, while the import was 29,000 tons valued at $98.9 million, so Iran’s fishery trade balance was $440 million in the previous year.

The export is anticipated to reach 150,000 tons valued at $600 million in the current year.

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 year.

New markets including China, South Korea, and the Eurasian Union nations opened up for Iranian fishery products in the previous year.

Among the plans and programs that the country is implementing in the present year to develop the aquaculture industry, it could be referred to the continuous monitoring of fishery exports, evaluating and monitoring of the performance of provinces, holding specialized desks in Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) to release related reports and discuss the competitive advantages of the products to be exported, and recognize new export markets.

MA/MA