Iranian state-owned animal feed importer SLAL has issued an international tender to purchase up to 120,000 tonnes of soymeal, European traders said on Tuesday. Offers in the tender must be submitted by February 17 and would be opened on February 18, they said. The soymeal should be sourced from Brazil or Argentina only. Shipment was sought in two consignments each of 60,000 tonnes between March 4 and March 18 and between March 19 and April 1.

SLAL has struggled to make purchases in recent grain and soymeal tenders, with some major grain houses not participating because of problems gaining trade finance from banks for Iran. Banks were unwilling to provide bid bonds and performance bonds requested in the tenders, traders say. In its last soymeal tender in early December, SLAL agreed to make a purchase of 120,000 tonnes from by a small trading house believed to be from Russia after multinational trading houses said they were unable to raise trade finance for bid bonds. Traders said the latest soymeal tender again required a hefty bid bond of some 539,000 euros ($644,482) and a performance guarantee of 10 percent of contract price.

Copyright Reuters, 2018