(Reuters) Ratnajyoti Dutta and Mayank Bhardwaj - Iranian buyers have defaulted on payments for about 200,000 tons 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. Vijay Setia, the association's president, said Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan had stopped sending rice to Iran on credit. India is Iran's top rice supplier, accounting for 70% of its annual needs. Ukraine's maize exports to Iran dropped 40% in January due to payment problems, Ukrainian consultancy ProAgro said last week. Five ships of grain have been diverted away from Iran to other destinations and about 400,000 tons of grains on at least 10 vessels have been held up outside Iranian ports because of payments problems, trade sources said.
2012-02-08 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive