Iraq Wants More Wheat Supply Agreement With Australia

By Madelene Pearson

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq wants to buy more wheat from Australia, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of the grain, potentially securing long-term supplies.

The Middle Eastern nation may want to buy about 1 million metric tons of Australian wheat a year in the future, Australia’s Trade Minister Simon Crean said in an e-mail after meeting with Iraq’s Trade Minister Abd al-Falah al-Sudani. Iraq imported 348,000 metric tons of Australian wheat last year, he said.

Australia last year ended AWB Ltd.’s monopoly over the nation’s wheat exports because of illegal payments made to the former regime of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was once Australia’s third- biggest wheat buyer and bought A$142 million ($92 million) worth of the grain last year.

“We had discussions that showed the Iraqi government wants to enter into agreements for the long-term supply of Australian wheat,” Crean said.

Australia and Iraq have also agreed to an agricultural partnership to boost the Middle Eastern nation’s productivity and food security, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told reporters today in Canberra after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Tony Burke, Australia’s agriculture minister, will lead a delegation to Iraq this year to discuss further cooperation, Rudd said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net