July 6, 2004

Iraq Tender To Buy Up To 200,000 MT Of Wheat Flour
 
Iraq will soon issue a tender to buy up to 200,000 metric tons of wheat flour, a senior Iraqi Trade Ministry official said Monday.
 
"We are about to issue an open tender to buy 100,000 to 200,000 tons of wheat flour to meet urgent needs of the Iraqi people," head of the Wheat Manufacturing Co. Yousif al-Hattab, stated.
 
He said the tender is expected to be made public within days.
 
Hattab said that Iraq would buy the wheat flour directly from producers rather than through a third party.
 
He said it would be the first time that Iraq has bought wheat flour for nearly two decades because usually the country buys wheat and mills it.
 
Hattab said most of Iraq's wheat mills are closed because of the security situation, which has been prevailing since the downfall of Saddam Hussein's regime more than a year ago and shortage of power.
 
"We hope that our wheat flour purchase will be the last because we want to stick to importing hard wheat," he added.
 
Last month director general of Iraq's grain board, Nazar Mohammed, said that the board would tender in July to buy 100,000 tons of hard wheat.
 
He also said that Iraq needs to import 2.5 million metric tons of hard wheat a year.
 
Iraq produces around 750,000 to one million tons of wheat a year.