Indian Tea Exporters Fretting Over US Sanctions Renewal Against Iran

Although India’s tea exports, particularly of the orthodox variety, are on a growth trajectory, exporters to Iran may be left in the lurch if India accedes to the US trade embargo on the West Asian nation.

India-Iran trade is currently valued at $10.6 billion and comprises mainly oil imports from Iran which is $8 billion. India’s exports to the West Asian country amount to $2.6 billion. It mainly consists of tea and basmati rice, Business Standard reported.

Iran is India’s largest importer of tea in value terms while it is the second largest after Russia in terms of volume.

According to data from the Tea Board, India’s direct exports to Iran last year accounted for nearly 15% of the $726.76 million tea exports while in terms of volume, it was 11.65%.

Iran is the largest consumer of Indian orthodox tea. Of late, major tea producers like McLeod Russel, Goodricke, Amalgamated Plantations and others have been focusing more on this variety.

A senior official from the union commerce ministry told Business Standard that the US sanctions are mainly directed at curbing Iranian oil exports. However, Indian tea exporters come under the watchful eyes of US banks. So, these exporters may find it difficult to do any transaction with the US or its allies.

“Whoever is exporting tea to Iran may come under the radar of the US banks and these transactions may get reported to the US authorities who in turn, may not be quite happy with it,” the official said.

As is usual with any international trade payment method, the transaction is done via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), which is a service of networks that enable banks and other financial institutions globally to send and receive financial transaction information in a standardized and secured manner. As such, payments made via SWIFT can be seen by banks globally.

During 2011-12, after the former US president, Barack Obama’s administration imposed trade sanctions on Iran, the Indian and Iranian governments put in place the rupee-rial payment mechanism, where up to 45% of India’s purchases of Iranian oil could be paid back in rupees. It covered products like tea, rice medicines and commodities not sanctioned by the UN.

“That was the saving grace for exports to Iran and this time, too, something can be worked out,” Atul Asthana, MD and CEO of the Goodricke Group, said.

Although the rupee-rial mode of transaction remains in vogue, the major portion of the Indo-Iranian trade has now fallen back to dollar and euro payments after the end of Obama’s reign.

Although Goodricke and other tea producing firms believe that exports to Iran will continue, as India was able to bypass Obama’s sanctions last time, Indian tea exporters dealing with multiple clients in Iran, Germany, the US and other NATO nations have raised concerns.

“It becomes a bit risky to get identified as someone who is overriding US sanctions when I think the US is so keen on making it a success,” an exporter from Kolkata, who usually ships orthodox and other high-value premium tea to clients across West Europe, Far East and West Asia, said.

Azam Monem, chairman of Indian Tea Association, is of the view that exports to Iran this year will not be affected as the deadline for implementing the sanctions begins in November.

“By the time the sanctions are put in place, the major portion of exports will be over. But in case India accepts the trade embargo, then next year there is going to be problem,” he said.