KRBL, LT Foods, Kohinoor Foods, Chaman Lal Setia: Rice exporter shares surge as US and Iran agree to ceasefire

Shares of rice exporting companies such as KRBL, LT Foods and Chaman Lal Setia Exports were witnessing strong buying interest on Wednesday, April 8, after United States, Israel and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire providing much needed relief to rice exporters which have significant business exposure to Iran.

Shares of KRBL rose as much as 8.09% to hit an intraday high of ₹336.65 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Shares of LT Foods advanced as much as 8% to hit an intraday high of ₹415.50, Kohinoor Foods gained as much as 8.75% to ₹24 and shares of Chaman Lal Setia exports surged as much as 15.6% to touch high of ₹275.

Iran is a major market for Indian basmati rice, importing approximately 1 million tonnes in the 2024-25 fiscal year, valued at roughly $698 million to $1.2 billion, as per data compiled by Trading Economics.

President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating attacks on its civilian infrastructure in which he had threatened 'a whole civilization will die'.

Trump said Iran had ‌presented a ⁠10-point proposal that was a "workable basis" for negotiations and he expected an agreement to be "finalized and consummated" during the two-week window.

Trump said the last-minute deal was subject to Iran's agreement to pause its blockade of oil and gas supplies through the strait. Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, said in a statement Tehran would stop counter-attacks and provide safe passage through the strait.

Iranian state TV said Trump had accepted Iran's terms for ending the war, describing it as a "humiliating retreat" by the U.S. president.

Geopolitical tensions in West Asia escalated in March following coordinated military strikes involving the United States and Israel against Iran.

The strikes led to the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, escalating geopolitical tensions and deepening global economic uncertainty.

As of 2:13 pm, major rice exporters KRBL, Chaman Lal Setia, LT Foods and Kohinoor Foods were outperforming the benchmark NIFTY50 index by rising over 5% each, data from NSE showed.