Sri Lanka is reportedly set to start bartering tea to Iran next month in lieu of USD250 million owed for oil, as the country tries to lift sales to a key market and protect the forex reserves.

The barter was agreed in 2021 for oil imported in 2012, but the exchange was delayed after Sri Lanka’s unprecedented dollar shortage last year plunged the economy into its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.

Speaking to the Reuters News Agency, Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel has said the programme is a timely initiative as the country will get access to an important market and both Iran and Sri Lanka can trade without relying on dollars.

Chairman Niraj de Mel has said the agreement was to send USD5 million worth of tea each month for 48 months but initially it will be around USD 2 million per month.

Globally popular Ceylon Tea is Sri Lanka’s highest foreign exchange-earning crop, brewing USD 1.25 billion for the country last year, according to government data.

Iran has been one of Sri Lanka’s main tea buyers but exports have fallen steadily from USD 128 million in 2018 to USD 70 million last year as U.S. sanctions on Iran hit trade.

A significant share of Sri Lanka’s tea is now shipped to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (UAE), official data shows, with the UAE more than doubling its tea imports from Sri Lanka to USD 118 million last year from USD 48 million five years ago.

Under the barter programme, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation that bought the oil will give rupees to the Tea Board to ship tea via Sri Lankan exporters.

Iranian tea importers will then pay riyals to the National Iranian Oil Company.

Chairman de Mel added that, “We are awaiting the final documents and hope to start exports from July.”

Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves grew to USD 3.5 billion at the end of May – a 14-month high – helped by increased remittances and tourism inflows after securing a USD 2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Source: Reuters