Iranian buyers have defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tonnes of rice from their top supplier India, exporters and rice millers said on Tuesday, a sign of the mounting pressure on Tehran from a new wave of Western sanctions.
The default prompted the head of the All India Rice Exporters’ Association to call on members to stop rice exports to Iran based on credit, which would be a fresh blow to a country where imports of staple foods are already being hampered by sanctions.
“It is a serious issue and we do not rule out further payment defaults by Iran,” said Vijay Setia, the association’s president.
Indian sources said the Iranian buyers had defaulted on payments worth about $144 million for rice shipments under long-term supply deals. Iran shipped the cargoes from Indian ports in October and November. Most Indian rice exporters allow 90 days credit.
In other supply disruptions, five deliveries of grain to Iran were diverted to new destinations because payments were held up, ship tracking data showed last week. Other cargoes are sitting offshore Iran because of difficulty with payments.
Under a tightening grip of sanctions, the country of 74 million people is finding it increasingly difficult to repatriate the hard currency from its crude oil exports, its major foreign currency earner, that it needs to pay for shipments of food and other imports.
A sharp drop in the value of the rial is adding to Iran’s import costs and the financial sanctions make it difficult for traders in the country to channel import payments through unofficial routes involving middlemen based in Dubai.
India is Iran’s top rice supplier, accounting for some 70 per cent of its annual requirement of 1-1.2 million tonnes of the grain, mainly basmati. Traders and officials in Iran could not be immediately reached to comment.
The rice defaults could be the latest sign that those sanctions are biting as Iranian importers find it increasingly difficult to settle payments.
Ukraine’s maize exports to Iran dropped 40 per cent in January due to payment problems, Ukrainian consultancy ProAgro said last week.
Ukrainian and European traders said they were no longer booking Ukraine grains shipments to Iran because of the payments difficulties, although talks were underway to save the market, the country’s farm minister said.
