Monday February 20, 8:55 AM Iraq Excludes Australian Wheat From Latest Deal(This article first issued Sunday) BAGHDAD (Dow Jones)--The Grain Board of Iraq said Sunday it decided to buy "good amount" of wheat from the U.S., Canada and Europe, but excluded Australia from its new wheat purchases. "We have decided to buy good amount of wheat from the U.S., Canada and Europe," a senior official with the Grain Board of Iraq told Dow Jones newswires. "We aren't buying Australian wheat at this time," he added. The official said the decision was made after a meeting held Sunday by senior officials of the trade ministry and the cabinet. The official, who spoke in condition of anonymity because of security fears, didn't say how much wheat Iraq had decided to buy, but said figures would be announced as soon as contracts were signed with suppliers. Earlier this month, news reports suggested Baghdad was actually seeking 1 million tons of wheat. The official also said Iraq decided to buy rice from the U.S., Vietnam and Thailand, but he didn't say how much. The meeting to decide on Iraq's first wheat and rice purchases in 2006 was adjourned several times. The meeting which was supposed to be held last Wednesday was postponed until Sunday probably because of the absence of Iraq Trade Minister Abdul Basset Mawlood who was in Dubai attending a trade conference. Such meetings are usually chaired by deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi. It isn't known though who attended the long-awaited Sunday meeting. Iraqi trade officials said that several companies had submitted bids for the tender, closed Jan. 28. The deals would be done under either free-on-board, or cost, insurance and freight terms, after it encountered transport problems under its regular FOB terms. Over the last few months, Iraq has bought large amounts of hard wheat on an FOB basis, a change from its traditional system based on CIF. Trade Ministry statistics show Iraq needs to buy around 3 million tons of wheat and 1 million tons of rice every year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts that Iraq will buy 3.8 million tons of wheat in 2005-06, up from 3 million tons the previous season. The U.S. has stepped up wheat sales to Iraq this season, taking market share from Australia, who had been the dominant supplier to Iraq in the previous 15 years. Since June, Iraq has purchased 2.1 million tons of U.S. hard red winter wheat, of which 906,000 tons remains left to be shipped, according to current USDA figures. In recent years, Australia's AWB sold wheat to Iraq through the U.N's oil-for-food program. AWB is currently under investigation over possible corruption and kickbacks involving the U.N.'s program. AWB said Monday that the Iraq Grain Board had suspended its relationship with it until completion of an inquiry into alleged kickbacks under an oil-for-food deal, scheduled to report to the government by March 31. Australian Prime Minister John Howard announced earlier this week that Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and AWB chairman Brendan Stewart would visit Iraq as soon as possible in a bid to improve relations and to try to alter an Iraqi decision to suspend relationship with the AWB. That visit hasn't materialized yet. |
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