Atotal of 18.5 tons of farmed caviar and 4,600 tons of sturgeon meat were produced in Iran in the fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20), according to an official of Iran Fisheries Organization.
“The number of caviar farms in the country increased from 16 to 20 from the fiscal 2012-13 to fiscal 2021-22 to 195 farms in 22 provinces of Iran in the fiscal 2022-23, of which 145-150 have undertaken mass production,” Nasser Karami-Rad was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
“We plan to produce 100 tons of caviar and 10,000 tons of sturgeon meat annually and fortunately caviar breeding has been developed in 22 provinces. In the second phase of the plan, the goal is to produce 140 tons of caviar and 20,000 tons of sturgeon meat with the entry of the private sector,” he added.
According to the official, caviar breeding takes 10-12 years, therefore, reaching the stated goals requires at least a decade.
“Currently, the capacity to produce about 110 tons of caviar and 9,000 tons of sturgeon meat has been created in the country and we are witnessing an increase in the output of both caviar and sturgeon meat,” he said.
Karami-Rad estimated that caviar exports stood at 5.5 tons in the last Iranian year.
“There are seven farmed species of caviar in Iran, five of which are native to Iran and two are non-native. About 70% of Iran's caviar production belong to the beluga species, which is one of the most important species in the world and about 30% belong to the sturgeon species and other species such as great sturgeon, Siberian, etc.,” he said.
“The development of sturgeon breeding in the Iran Fisheries Organization is about four decades old, but most of the production started a decade ago.”