A SWOT analysis on Iranian fishmeal industry

In the present study, there are examined weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats of fishmeal industry using SWOT analysis. Questionnaire was designed after interviewing a number of experts and searching through different resources.. A total of 42 producers and experts involved in this industry were surveyed. There were found 14 strengths such as several years of working experience;, 27 weaknesses such as shortage of raw materials; 14 opportunities such as increased fishmeal demand due to growth in aquaculture; and 19 threats, including increased foreign currency fluctuations, in IFE and EFE. The most important strategies are conservative and defensive approaches, utilizing modern technology and interacting with the global market, using environment friendly technology, having more interaction with the government through unions in order to gain credit facilities, helping to decrease cost of industry accessories, regulating support for Iranian products, helping the production of necessary technology inside the country, examining the possibility of providing more raw materials inside the country and using new reserves. Finally, the aforementioned factors will assist supervisors of this industry in designing and writing strategic plan to develop fishmeal industry.