Iran’s shrimp output to surge to 52,000 tons by March

Iran’s fishery chief says shrimp output in the country would further increase in the current calendar year ending March 2021 to top 52,000 metric tons.

Nabiollah Khunmirzaei said on Tuesday that shrimp farms in Iran have been expanded to cover 12,000 hectares of more lands, adding that output would increase by over 15 percent year on year if the production target is met in March.

Iran has seen a major boom in its fishery sector as rising exports keep encouraging more farmers to expand aquaculture activities.

Shrimp production has increased steadily over the past years to turn Iran into the 10th leading producer in the world, according to figures by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

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Total lands dedicated to shrimp farming in Iran are nearly 200,000 hectares with most of the farms concentrated in southern provinces on the coasts of the Persian Gulf.

Nearly 60 percent of the total production comes from the province of Bushehr, where local authorities said on Tuesday that annual output would reach a record of 29,000 tons by March, up from 21,000 tons recorded over the past calendar year.

A bulk of Iran’s shrimp output is exported, providing the country with a good source of hard currency amid a decline in normal sales of crude oil.

Fishery authorities said recently that annual shrimp output would further increase to reach 60,000 tons by the end of the next Iranian calendar year in March 2022.

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