TEHRAN: Director of Iran’s International Sturgeon Research Institute, Mahmoud Bahmani, said that Iran can earn 12.6 percent of its annual crude oil revenue from caviar exports.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) quoted Bahmani as saying that ‘volume of Iran’s annual farmed caviar output stands at 3 tons, which is planned to reach 100 tons by 2025.
Hassan Salehi, head of Iran Fisheries Organization said that the country produced about 1.5 tons of the fish in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2013-March 2014).
On January 7, Salehi said the value of Iran’s annual farmed caviar exports is planned to reach 120 billion rials (about $3.5 million) by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2015).
The most expensive of all caviar, and indeed the world’s most expensive food is ‘Almas’, from the Iranian Beluga fish. One kilogram of this ‘black gold’ is regularly sold for around $34,500. Almas is produced from the eggs of a rare sturgeon between 60-100 years old, which swims in the southern Caspian Sea where there is apparently less pollution.
Iran’s annual crude oil revenue stood at $34.52 billion in the past Iranian calendar year, according to the Iranian Oil Ministry.
