Indian basmati rice exports to Iran likely to start from April 2015

Sai Nikesh | The Dollar Business The Indian exporters of basmati rice may expect good days ahead in the upcoming financial year that is going to start from April 2015. According to latest reports, the Government of Iran is likely to restart importing of India’s basmati rice in the new financial year, opening its doors for India after a temporary stoppage since October 2014. This supposed move by the Government of Iran was eagerly awaited by Indian exporters’ associations like Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO), Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), among others. Even though the Indian import permits had to face brief break since October 2014, Iran continued to execute existing and past orders by India. India has not faced any ban on exports of basmati rice to Iran, instead the Iran government has only stopped the imports from India, in view of oversupplies, say the sources. This supposed move by the Iranian government gains importance in the light of a recent announcement by Nayyereh Pirouzbakht, Head of the National Standard Organisation (NSO), Government of Iran, towards the formation of an India-Iran joint working group, where the officials from both sides will work on clearing technical obstacles in order to ensure the facilitation of trade, boost the quality of products for exports. The NSO Head had also expressed satisfaction over the imports of tea, among other commodities from India. Pointing out that the group will have a special focus on commodities like Rice, Tea and Soya, which Iran has been importing from India, the NSO official asked the Indian government to consider commodity specific sensitivity on tea exports to Iran. Objecting Iran’s concerns over existing of heavy metals in rice imports from India, she said there is no concern on India’s rice imports, as they are cultivated in an arsenic-free soil. Besides this, the Iranian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) had also expressed willingness to sign Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) with India in a move to promote bilateral trade between the two countries. In a meeting with the Indian Deputy Minister of Industrial Affairs Rajani Ranjan Rashmi during the first week of March 2015, Valiollah Afkhami Rad, Head of ITPO, said that the signing of PTA with India will result in promotion of trade between the two countries.  

This article was published on March 10, 2015.