Iran's SLAL books second parcel of Indian barley

Indian exporters have sold a second cargo of feed barley to an Iranian state importer for prompt shipment via a tender, brokers told Agricensus Friday.

Iran's state-owned animal feed importer SLAL booked 60,000 mt of Indian feed barley from Gurudeo Exports at INR19,450/mt CFR Bandar Imam Khomeini ($267.50/mt).

Shipment is for 45 days after a letter of credit has been opened.

Friday’s trade follows a 40,000 mt cargo of Indian sold earlier this week at INR19,500/mt CFR ($268/mt) for March-April shipment.

India is not usually a barley exporter, producing just 1.6 million mt of the feed grain annually.

However, a lack of barley on the market for nearby shipment along with elevated global prices have allowed it to become competitive.

“India is not an exporter of barley traditionally but due to price spreads there seems to be a theoretical possibility,” a trader said.

By paying in rupees, Friday’s deal allows Iran to skirt sanctions on its government that limit its banking system’s capacity to work with US dollars.

India has already taken advantage of soaring commodity prices several times this year, increasing wheat and corn exports to Asian and Middle Eastern countries in the 2020/21 marketing year.