January 17, 2024

 

No wheat imports for Iraq this year, says trade minister

 

 

Iraq's Minister of Trade, Atheer Al-Ghurairi, said that the country does not plan to import wheat in 2024 as it has large stocks sufficient for seven months with expectations of a bumper crop.

 

Al-Gurairi's remarks came after the US Ambassador to Iraq, Alina Romanowski, mentioned in late December that Iraq's increasing population wants more wheat to make bread.

 

"The Iraqi government is trying to increase national wheat production. Yet, Iraq's wheat supply does not meet the demand," Romanowski said. "Wheat production dropped slightly to 3.9 million tonnes for 2022-2023, while predictions for wheat imports increased to 3.8 million tonnes for 2023-2024.

 

"The Iraqi government strives to meet Iraq's increasing population's wheat demand with national production but relies on wheat imports as well."

 

Al-Gurairi told Bloomberg News that the country has two million tonnes of wheat reserves, explaining that this year's harvest season is scheduled to begin by April as usual, where wheat production is expected to be better than last year.

 

"There is no need to import wheat this year," he said.

 

The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture said earlier that Iraq requires between 4.5 million tonnes and five million tonnes of wheat every year.

 

Iraq was self-sufficient in wheat during the three years before the war in Ukraine, with production of 4.7 million tonnes in 2019, 6.2 million tonnes in 2020 and about 4.2 million tonnes in 2021.

 

However, factors such as water scarcity and desertification led to a decrease in the local production of wheat, which reached about three million tonnes last season, prompting the Iraqi government to import wheat to cover the shortfall.

 

- Iraqi News