Iraq has strategic reserves of wheat for four months, Mohammed Hanoun, a spokesman for the republic's ministry of commerce, said on Tuesday, according to the INA news agency.
"The existing reserves are able to cover the need [for wheat] for four months. Hence there is a need to [increase] the strategic stockpile, which requires effective measures by the government and parliament to ensure food security," Hanoun said.
In addition, the ministry of agriculture in Iraq announced on Tuesday an increase in the purchase price of wheat by 100,000 dinars (about $68.5) per ton. For such a measure, notes the agency, the ministers of the economic bloc voted after the recommendation of the country's Minister of Agriculture Muhammad al-Khafaji. Thus, the cost of one ton of wheat in Iraq is 850 thousand dinars (about $582.2).
In March, Minister of Trade of Iraq Alla Ahmed Hassan said that the government plans to allocate additional $100 million to purchase wheat abroad in connection with the worsening situation around Ukraine, which on a par with Russia is one of the key exporters of grain in the country.
Military actions in Ukraine and large-scale sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and the European Union resulted in disruption of grain supplies, which increases the risk of a food crisis in a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East. Wheat and corn prices have risen 30 percent since the beginning of 2022, as the fighting impedes free trade and disrupts basic production processes. In this regard, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recommended countries that depend on food supplies from Russia and Ukraine to find alternative suppliers and to diversify their own production.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS