The Iran Tea Association (ITA) and the Tea Board of India (TBI) are examining ways to facilitate exports of Indian tea to Iran.

Tea from India is currently not widely available in Iran because of the lack of letters of credit (L/Cs) for Iranian transactions due to international financial sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.

Suggested solutions

According to TBI's director of Tea Promotion for West Asia and North Africa, George Jenner, the two sides are looking at alternative methods of financing tea transactions between Iran and India.

Jenner suggests part of the solution could be for TBI to directly import Indian teas into Iran and take care of distribution there.

Other alternatives

Another possibility, since India is importing oil from Iran, is for some kind of barter-type arrangement with tea.

The TBI director also reckons revolving L/Cs and special foreign exchange arrangements could also be employed to facilitate financing.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.