Iran Stocks Up on Thai Rice
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Iran, facing possible U.N. sanctions over its nuclear program, plans to boost rice purchases from Thailand in a sign that it may be preparing to withstand international efforts to isolate it.
Iranian officials have been in talks with several Thai exporters to buy between 300,000 tons and 400,000 tons of rice, the president of Thai Rice Exporters’ Association, Chookiat Ophaswongse, said in an interview yesterday. Thailand is the world’s biggest rice exporter.
The Iranian talks are “probably caused by concern over trade sanctions,” Mr. Chookiat said by telephone.” Orders from Iran are unusual because the country has bought a very small quantity of rice from Thailand” in the past.
Iran currently imports 300,000 tons of rice a year, the Iran Daily reported April 24, citing Agriculture Minister Reza Eskandari. The country has a program to become self-sufficient in the commodity and has been planting “high-yield local” rice crops, the newspaper said.
