08/03/06 Iraq now a leading wheat export market

Farm and Ranch August 3, 2006 One outcome of the U.S. toppling of the regime of Saddam Hussein was that access was again provided for commercial U.S. wheat sales to Iraq. The Mideast nation buys primarily hard red winter wheat and USDA Secretary Mike Johanns, who was in Iraq this week, says the country has become a major customer for U.S. farmers. Johanns: "We are very pleased with this market when it comes to wheat. We now have about 72% of the market share. That's about 2.3 million metric tons in the 05-06 market year. So Iraq is now the third largest purchaser of U.S. wheat. Every indication is that they are pleased with the purchases from the United States. My crystal ball is probably no better than anyone else's in terms of me trying to offer any kind of guarantee they will continue that purchasing. But I think prospects look good. I don't see any reasons why the prospects would not be good." Johanns said the Iraqis are expecting a good wheat harvest of their own. He also said U.S. assistance has helped provide Iraq with 31 tons of cleaned and treated wheat seed. During his one-day visit to Iraq, Johanns signed a joint statement of intent with Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister to strengthen and broaden Iraq's agricultural extension system and universities through partnerships between U.S. and Iraqi universities. Possible areas of technical cooperation include production of wheat and barley. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.