January 5, 2006

Iraq buys 1 million tonnes US wheat for 2006

The Iraqi Grain Board has bought one million tonnes of U.S. hard wheat on a free on board basis for delivery as from the end of this month, a senior official with the Board said Thursday.

The official said that the government had signed a contract with U.S. Cargill Inc. to supply 800,000 tonnes of U.S. hard wheat, while the remaining 200,000 tonnes were bought from another U.S. firm whom he did not name.

The official gave no price details.

The last time Iraq bought U.S. wheat was in Sept. 2005 when it purchased 850,000 tonnes of U.S. hard wheat. At that time it also bought 650,000 tonnes of Australian wheat.

The official said that Iraq also signed two contracts to purchase 500,000 tonnes of rice from the U.S. and Thailand under the FOB system. He said it bought 240,000 tonnes of U.S. rice and 260,000 tonnes of Thai rice. He said delivery would start as from the end of this month. He gave no price details.

In September last year, Baghdad bought 350,000 tonnes U.S. rice for delivery before the end of 2005. The Iraqi grain board said that the amount was purchased from Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) and another company.

According to Trade Ministry statistics, Iraq needs to buy around three million tonnes of wheat and one million tonnes of rice every year.