Iraq Wheat Production Up 21%, Official Says, Amid Ample Rainfall

 Iraq’s wheat output hit 6.3 million tons this year, an almost 21% annual increase that marked a second year of self-sufficiency in the grain, an official said.

Haider Nouri Al-Garaawi, director general of Iraq’s grain board, said in a phone interview that “extraordinary” rains as well as modern irrigation technologies helped increase this year’s harvest.

Iraq produced around 5.2 million tons of wheat last year. The country’s production is highly dependent on rain and water flows from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The government — which runs a subsidy program that distributes 4.7 million tons of the commodity a year — buys local wheat at almost double the global price to encourage production by domestic farmers.

Iraq’s wheat surplus of around 1.6 million tons this year will be sold to local private millers for flour, Al-Garaawi said.

The government’s reserves will last through next April with no need to import foreign wheat, he said. But private millers might import the grain to fulfill local flour demand.

In recent years, Iraq bought wheat from the US, Australia and Canada.

Tags: crop forecast, wheat, Iraq