MNA � Iran's farmed caviar reached about 5 tons in production and about 1.2 tons in exports in the current Iranian fiscal year (March 2017-18).


It is for more than a decade that commercial harvest of this aquatic species has been banned due to the reduced reserves of caviar fish species in the Caspian Sea, so that the regional countries have been committed to harvest limited caviar in order to strengthen caviar reserves in the Caspian Sea.

Deputy Head of Iranian Fisheries Organization for Aquaculture Affairs, talking to ISNA on Wednesday, put the production volume of farmed caviar at about five tons, expandable to 100 tons before the 6th Five-Year Socioeconomic and Cultural Development Plan.

In the same period, 10,000 tons of farmed caviar meat was produced, he said, adding, �presently, the country is home to about 90 farms for breeding caviar, 50 percent of which are located in the provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan and Golestan while the rest are located in the provinces of Hormozgan, Fars, Qom, and Khuzestan."

According to the planning made in this regard and under a trilateral agreement inked with the northern provinces, Mostazafan & Janbazan (M&J) Foundation and Iranian Fisheries Organization have reached an agreement to offer reasonable loans through SINA BANK, as operating bank, available to the applicants willing to launch caviar farms.

Statistics on export of farmed caviar in the country also show that export situation of this aquatic species has not changed as compared to the previous year, he added.

The major importers of Iranian caviar are EU countries, as well as China, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Kuwait, UAE, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Lebanon, etc.