India Develops New Market in Iran for Its Rice

It is reported that  Iran has been taken import India basmati rice as one of its major source of grain for the insufficiency of rice imports from neighboring country.

Iran has emerged as a major new buyer of Indian basmati rice because of a slowdown in rice imports from neighboring Pakistan, the Business Line newspaper reported Wednesday.

basmati rice exports to Iran rose to 225,000 metric tons in the year to October, up from 60,000 tons the previous year and virtually none before that, the report quoted trade sources as saying.

For the new year, contracts have already been signed for 125,000-150,000 tons of basmati rice exports, mostly of the Pusa 1121 variety.

The paper said Iran had raised tariffs and restrictions on land shipments to counter opium smuggling that have particularly affected trade with Pakistan and made Indian rice more competitive.