Iran to export 200,000 tonnes of flour to Iraq
Sat Jul 16, 2005
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran, formerly a major wheat importer, will export 200,000 tonnes of flour to Iraq in the year to March 2006, Iranian Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari said on Saturday.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafaari, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran in decades, arrived in the country on Saturday, heading a delegation of 12 ministers.
"We have discussed export of 200,000 tonnes of flour with Iraqi counterparts, have agreed on the price and will soon start delivering it," Shariatmadari told reporters.
Traders told Reuters earlier this month that Iraq had granted Iran a tender for 250,000 tonnes of flour, marking a shift in import policy in favour of the former foe with which it fought an eight-year war from 1980 to 1988.
Iran became self-sufficient in wheat last year having met domestic consumption of more than 11 million tonnes. It stopped importing wheat for the first time in 40 years.
Unlike the previous government that took over from the U.S.-led occupation authority in July 2004, Jaafari's government has expressed its desire to strengthen economic ties with Iran, which was named by U.S. President George Bush as part of an "axis of evil" that had included Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
Iran's wheat production, including feed wheat, is expected to exceed 15 million tonnes in the year to March 2006.
Iranian officials say production has increased due to improved farming methods, but critics said the rise was due to the end of a drought and to sacrificing barley cultivation.
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