Iran expects 20% rise in farmed shrimp output

Iran’s production of farmed shrimp is expected to increase by up to 20% in the three-month harvesting season that will end in late November.

News ID: 2002027

A senior official from the Iranian Fisheries Organization said on Sunday that the country's farmed shrimp output would reach 50,000 metric tons (mt) this year, up from 40,000 mt reported in the harvesting season in 2024.

Mehrdad Mohammadi Doust said that the shrimp farming area in Iran had expanded to more than 16,000 hectares this year, adding that the southern provinces of Hormozgan and Bushehr and the northern province of Golestan are the main suppliers of the seafood in the country.

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

A bulk of Iran’s shrimp output is exported, providing the country with a good source of hard currency at a time it is seeking to diversify its economy away from oil revenues.

China has been responsible for more than 50% of the shrimp purchases from Iran in recent years, while other major destinations include Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman.

Government figures show total Iranian fisheries exports have reached 0.3 million mt worth $700 million per year./isna