MMTC India to exclude Iranian urea from tender

Indian agency MMTC has issued an addition to its tender to buy urea, which explicitly excludes Iranian urea from being offered.

The move clarifies a previous clause stating it could not guarantee payments to sanctioned countries.

"Bids offering material from countries of origin against which sanctions have been imposed/likely to be imposed, shall not be considered and price bids of such tenders shall not be opened," the document said. It also states that offers with open-origin cargoes will not be accepted.

Iran is a major supplier of urea to India. Its January-June imports this year totalled 3.4mn t of urea, of which 1.15mn t came from Iran, according to GTIS. Last year's total imports of 5.9mn t saw India buy 1.6mn t from Iran.

The tender closes tomorrow and shipment is required up to 19 November.

India does not set a specific tonnage target for its urea tenders, but stocks have fallen to about 400,000t. Argus estimates that 2mn t is needed for shipment up to mid-January.

India last issued a tender for urea on 1 August, when it bought 712,000t of largely Iranian urea at $274.80-278.95/t cfr for shipment up to 16 September.