November 3, 2006

Iraq does not intend to issue wheat tender this year

Iraq is not intending to issue a new tender to buy wheat this year, a senior official with the Grain Board of Iraq said Thursday (Nov 2).

The official said the board is instead intending to ask local traders to supply imported wheat, which means they would import the wheat and the board would buy it from them.

He did not give quantities.

Earlier in September the country's Trade Ministry announced that the board, which is responsible for the country's wheat imports, had bought 1.01 million tonnes of locally produced hard wheat from local farmers during this year's harvest.

Iraq needs to import around 3 million tonnes of wheat every year.

During the first four months of 2006 the board bought 1.450 million tonnes of wheat, including 500,000 tonnes from Canada, 450,000 tonnes from the US, 350,000 tonnes from Australia and 150,000 tonnes from Germany.