NEW DELHI: Iran, the biggest buyer of Indian basmati rice, has stopped purchasing the same, the Economics Times reported.
According to the report, Iran has stopped signing new contracts for importing tea and basmati rice from last week. However, it also said that there has been no clarification from Iranian buyers about the reason for this move.
Iran, traditionally the biggest buyer of Indian basmati rice, was purchasing actively in the past few months, but countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia have been more active of late, Anil Mittal, chairman and managing director KRBL, a leading rice exporter told Reuters.
Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen account for nearly two-thirds of India's basmati rice exports.
Export prices for the grain have jumped to over $1,450 per tonne from around $1,160 a year ago.
'Not lifting Indian tea'
India is also the 2nd largest producer of tea in the world. In October, production fell fell 16.7% from a year earlier to 160.67 million kg, the state-run Tea Board said, as output fell in top growing Assam.
A report in PTI last week had quoted tea exporters as saying that Iran was not lifting up mandatory proforma meant for Indian tea as they were waiting for finalisation of a rupe-payment deal.
In the calendar year 2020, Iran imported 26.18 million kilograms of tea from India, which was considerably lower than what the Persian Gulf country had done in 2020 at 33.75 million kilograms.
Besides, lower tea production lifted average tea prices in October to Rs 185.16 ($2.28) per kg, up 10.5% year on year, according to the Tea Board.
India exports CTC (crush-tear-curl) grade mainly to Egypt and the United Kingdom, with the orthodox variety shipped to Iraq, Iran and Russia.
