March 7, 2006

Iraq goes shopping for wheat

Iraq announced yesterday the list of countries it is purchasing wheat from, ending weeks of market speculation on whom the countries would be.

Iraq is one of the biggest grain import market in the world.

The country would be buying 500,000 tonnes of Canadian wheat at US$188 a tonne and another 150,000 tonnes of US wheat at US$190 a tonne, the head of Iraq's grain board said yesterday. Another 350,000 tonnes of wheat would be purchased from Australia but prices were to be decided later.

The country had bought most of its wheat from Australia but stopped after a scandal involving the former regime of Saddam Hussein under the UN oil- for-food program.

Iraq had previously awarded a buying tender for one million tonnes of wheat to two American firms last year.

In a separate joint statement, barley exporter ABB Grain Ltd., Western Australian grains handler and trader Co-operative Bulk Handling and Eastern grains handler and trader GrainCorp Ltd. said they would work together for the sale.

The three groups store and handle the bulk of Australia's 22-million-tonne wheat crop and trade in various grains.

Australia and the US have been competing for the Iraqi market. US wheat recently became more popular than Australian wheat until Iraq aborted plans to buy US wheat last month, quoting high prices.