Ali-Akbar Khodaei, the director of the Aquatics’ Production and Trade Union of Iran, told IRNA economic correspondent on Tuesday that the country’s six-month shrimp exports register a 22% year-on-year increase when compared to 11,100 tons of exports reported in the last year’s corresponding period.

He said that Russia was the main destination for Iranian shrimp accounting for 40% of Iran’s total exports, followed by the UAE which imported another 35% of the Iranian exports of the product.

The rest 25% of Iranian shrimp exports mainly went to China, Lebanon, Egypt, Spain, France, Britain and some other regional countries, Khodaei said.

He added that some 80-85% of Iran’s shrimp output are produced in two southern provinces of Hormuzgan and Bushehr.

He also cited official statistics which say that there are some 16,000-17,000 of active shrimp farms in Iran with 4000-5000 others being under construction.