Indian officials and merchants have asked the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration to lower tariffs on tea imports from India.
In 2014 and 2015, India exported some 18,000 and 22,000 tons of tea to Iran respectively. Given Iran’s domestic tea demand of over 140,000 tons annually, Indians are eagerly seeking a bigger share in meeting this demand.
The tariff set on Indian tea by Iran is currently at 20% with a further 9% value added tax. New Delhi has asked Iran for different tariff rates on various types of tea based on their quality and for the Iranian National Standard Organization to reconsider its standards regarding the permissible amount of pesticides used on the product.
The INSO has heretofore rejected a number of tea shipments from India, due to pesticide contamination.
New Delhi’s call for reduced tariffs comes as Iranian tea industry officials believe that excessive imports of the product have discouraged domestic tea farmers and production has dipped from 70,000 tons to 20,000 tons over the past 10 years.
