As the Sino-U.S. trade war makes life tough for American seafood exporters, Beijing has increased its supply options by throwing open its doors to Iran.
Forty Iranian seafood firms have been given the green light to export to China, according to a list published recently by the Chinese General Administration of Customs.
The move comes as just the country’s shrimp output is increasing rapidly. Iranian shrimp output will hit 50,000 tons in 2019, compared to 12,000 tons in 2013, Iranian Minister for Agriculture Mahmoud Hojjati said in a press release.
Among the companies approved are Persian Gulf Food Industry Co., Cooperative Javan Food Industries Co, and Bandar Abbas Fishery Products Co.
A close commercial partner of China, which has also invested significantly in the country’s infrastructure, Iran aims to increase its shrimp production to 60,000 tons by 2021, Hojjati said.
Iran has been looking to grow demand in the Persian Gulf region and in China as an economic opportunity for its seafood sector. An Iranian free trade zone on the Persian Gulf is promising shrimp farmers a return of USD 2 million (EUR 1.8 million) on every investment of USD 3 million (EUR 2.7 million), according to Behnam Arvin, a sales executive from the Commercial Port of Bandar Abbas, which is also Iran’s main seaport.
“The shrimp of Iran is unique due to the amount of length of shoreline and the access to the Persian Gulf's pristine beaches and the excellent land on the shores of the Makran,” Behnam told SeafoodSource. The Makran is the coastal region running along Iran’s southern shoreline.
While it will battle Ecuador and India in the Chinese shrimp market, Iran’s advantage may be in its geographical proximity to China’s northwestern regions, with a Chinese-invested port in neighboring Pakistan (near the Bandar Abbas region) linked to Chinese territory by the overland China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
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