Prolonged Israel-Iran conflict may impact Basmati exports: Experts

Iran is one of the top buyers of Indian basmati rice; traders warn exports may take a hit if the Israel conflict continues and diplomatic tensions escalate

India’s basmati rice exports to Iran might take a hit if the ongoing conflict with Israel persists for long and a diplomatic standoff in the host country leads to coercive measures like trade sanctions, traders said.

 

Iran is a major destination for India’s basmati rice exports and accounts for almost 700,000–800,000 tonnes per annum out of the total exports of 4–6 million tonnes. Earlier, India used to export around a million tonnes of basmati rice to Iran every year. 

 

“India’s basmati export season started from November and we are sitting in June, therefore bulk of the deals would have already been shipped, hence no big immediate impact is seen. But if the conflict lingers on, then we might surely see some hit, as Iran is an important market for Indian basmati rice,” said S Chandrasekaran, a leading trade policy analyst. 

 

In FY25, India exported around 20 million tonnes of rice, of which basmati rice accounted for nearly 6 million tonnes, while the balance was non-basmati exports.

 

Rice exports in 2024–25 were valued at close to $12.5 billion, around 20 per cent more than the same period last year. Iran, the Middle East, Bangladesh, and African countries are the main destinations for India’s rice exports (basmati and non-basmati combined).