Iraq Issues Tender To Buy 30,000 MT rice

The Grain Board of Iraq has issued a tender to buy at least 30,000 MT of rice of any origin making it the fifth rice tender this year. Bidders are directed to submit heir offers latest by Aug. 15, and bids would be valid until Aug. 22. The last time Baghdad issued a rice tender was in July when it bought 150,000 MT. Some 120,000 MT were Thai rice purchased at $488.85 a ton and the remaining 30,000 MT were purchased from an Indian company called LMJ at $444/ton. The tender originally asked for 30,000 MT rice.

Iraq buys Vietnamese rice in second tender this month

IRAQ, one of the world's largest importers of wheat and rice, has bought

90,000 tonnes of Vietnamese rice after a tender was issued more than two
weeks ago, an Iraqi grain board official said on Thursday.

"The rice tender has been set to buy 60,000 tonnes from Vina Food
Company and 30,000 tonnes of rice from VIP, an Iraqi-Vietnamese
company," said Hassan Ibrahim, director general of the Iraq Grain Board.
"The purchase was on FOB terms."

Vietnam wins new bid to sell rice to Iraq

The Northern Food Corporation (Vinafood 1) has won a bid to sell 90,000 tonnes of 5 per cent broken rice to Iraq, according to a statement made by the company yesterday, March 1.

The new bid brings the total amount of rice to be exported by Vinafood 1 to Iraq between March and May to 150,000 tonnes.

In October 2009, Vinafood 1 and the Viet Nam-Iraq joint-venture specialising in rice processing and exports won another bid to export 60,000 tonnes of high-quality rice to Iraq. The new bid is expected to help the company purchase more paddy from the winter-spring crop at higher prices from local farmers. Members of the Viet Nam Food Association (VFA) are scheduled to meet in southern An Giang Province today to discuss plans to promote rice exports in 2010.

VFA said Viet Nam exported only 350,000 tonnes of rice in February, which was a drop of 45 per cent from the same period last year. Export rice contracts have decreased recently as importers were waiting for a price reduction.

"However, export potential is still brighter than it was at the end of last year," said VFA's vice chairman Pham Van Bay.

"Viet Nam will execute the contract to ship 1.85 million tonnes to the Philippines in the coming months.

The Philippines will also purchase 600,000 tonnes by the end of March and 200,000 tonnes will be purchased by private companies," he said.

Recently, the Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Finance to buy 50,000 tonnes of rice for the national food reserve in 2010 and to stabilise the price on the market.

Last Thursday, the VFA also asked its 30 member enterprises to purchase 1 million tonnes to put in reserves to stabilise the price of rice in the Mekong Delta region.

Iraq purchases U.S.-grown rice

The USA Rice Federation reports that Iraq recently purchased 100,000 metric tons of U.S. long-grain rice in its latest tender.

Historically, Iraq has been a sporadic but rather large market for U.S. rice. From a high of 385,000 metric tons in 2005-06 to 121,000 metric tons last marketing year, this 100,000 metric tons sale, said USA Rice, “demonstrates that this is a market that must be taken seriously.”

USA Rice is building relationships with the Iraqi Grain Board and the Ministry of Trade.

Almost all the imported rice is distributed through a ration system administered by the Iraqi government and all purchase decisions are made by the government.

Due to the security situation, USA Rice does not have an active promotions program in Iraq.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad plans to take a contingent of Iraqis to the Gulfood Show in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Feb. 21-24. USA Rice is exhibiting at the event and “will interact with the members of the U.S. Embassy-sponsored team to promote more purchases of U.S.-grown rice.”

Iraqis welcome WFP role in state food aid system

Iraqis have welcomed a new partnership between the Ministry of Trade and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to improve the state-run food aid system, which has been crumbling since the US-led invasion in 2003 because of insecurity, poor management and corruption. "Finally we've got someone who will help us," said Omar Khalid Al-Jabouri, a 43-year-old video games shop owner from Jihad, a suburb of western Baghdad. "We've been suffering since 2003 with the system's bad foodstuffs, which are not fit for human consumption, and delays in distribution and shortages of items." Under a 2010-2014 memorandum of understanding, WFP will offer consultation and training to Trade Ministry employees on how to buy, transport, store and distribute food items nationwide in a timely manner while maintaining quality. WFP will not be actively involved in any stage of the buying and distribution process. On 4 January, Safa-Eddin al-Safi, Iraq's acting trade minister, announced the partnership in a joint press conference with WFP Iraq country director Edward Kallon, describing it as "a major and important step on the path of improving the food rationing system". "This partnership aims to achieve the Ministry's goal of securing the food rationing system's items nationwide by making use of the WFP experience," Al-Safi said. Kallon said WFP's more than 40 years of experience in international food assistance would enable it to play a key role in helping improve the management of the food rations' supply chain. Optimism Iraqis asked were optimistic about the partnership, even calling for greater WFP involvement. "When it comes to the food rationing system, I prefer to leave it in the hands of WFP, from A to Z, because the Iraqi government has proved that it is unable to handle it properly," Kholoud Mohammed Amin, a 33-year-old hairdresser from New Baghdad, on the eastern side of the capital, told IRIN. Basra resident Ahmed Abbas Wali, a 53-year taxi driver, echoed Amin's call for giving WFP a greater role, and said that the government should pledge to compensate food aid recipients with money if they did not receive their parcel. "What is happening now is that we are buying the things from the market when the government can't distribute them. The government should pay citizens to buy the missing materials," Wali said. PDS food parcels Iraq's food rationing system, known as the Public Distribution System (PDS), was set up in 1995 as part of the UN's oil-for-food programme following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. More than half of Iraq's 29 million residents depend on it, according to Trade Ministry statistics. Monthly PDS parcels are supposed to contain rice (3kg per person); sugar (2kg per person); cooking oil (1.25kg or one litre per person); flour (9kg per person); milk for adults (250g per person); tea (200g per person); beans (250g per person); children's milk (1.8kg per child); soap (250g per person); detergents (500g per person); and tomato paste (500g per person). Last year, former Iraqi trade minister Abdul-Falah al-Sudani was arrested and charged with corruption and embezzlement, mainly in relation to food imports for PDS parcels. The minister's brother and another official were also arrested while seven other officials, including another brother, who are all wanted for the same alleged offences, are still at large.

Iraq Issues New Tender To Buy Rice

The Iraqi government has issued a new tender to buy rice, the Grain Board of Iraq said Wednesday.

It set the closing date for receiving bids from companies at 1000 GMT July 25. It didn't specify quantity, but according to the Iraqi Ministry of Trade, Baghdad needs to buy 1 million metric tons of rice every year.

Separately, a statement by the Ministry of Trade said two vessels laden with around 102,000 tons of Canadian hard wheat are expected to anchor at Um Qasr port in southern Iraq shortly. It gave no further details.

Iraq has issued several tenders to buy hard wheat and rice over the last few weeks as its stocks are running out, according to Iraqi traders. They said the Grain Board of Iraq found it difficult to conclude deals with international companies to buy the two commodities because of soaring prices.

Iraq needs to buy at least 3 million tons of hard wheat every year.

Iraq buys over 100,000 tonnes of Thai rice

Iraq has bought between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes of Thai rice at prices ranging between $417 and $423 a tonne C&F, and the rice is for July/August shipment, trade sources said on Thursday. The sources also added that the purchases were brought under a nominal tender to buy up to 30,000 tonnes of rice that closed on May 30.

Iraq's rice imports are estimated at around 87,000 tonnes each month.

Other trade sources say Iraq has at least 100,000 tonnes of outstanding contracts since December last year that have not been delivered, including 60,000 tonnes of Thai rice and 30,000 tonnes of U.S. rice.

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