Iraq Wheat Production Soars 21% Amid Ample Rainfall

Iraq’s wheat output hit 6.3 million tons (MT) this year, an almost 21% annual increase that marked a second year of self-sufficiency in the grain, an official said, Khalid Al-Ansary reported for Bloomberg News.

Iraq’s wheat surplus of around 1.6 MT this year will be sold to private millers for flour. I Photo: Sanar Hasan, The New Humanitarian

Haider Nouri Al-Garaawi, director general of Iraq’s grain board, said in a phone interview that “extraordinary” rains and modern irrigation technologies helped increase this year’s harvest. Iraq produced around 5.2 MT of wheat last year.

The country’s production is highly dependent on rain and water flows from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

The government, which runs a subsidy program that distributes 4.7 MT of the commodity a year, buys local wheat at almost double the global price to encourage production by domestic farmers.

Iraq’s wheat surplus of around 1.6 MT this year will be sold to private millers for flour, Al-Garaawi said.

The government’s reserves will last through next April, with no need to import foreign wheat. However, private millers might import the grain to fulfill local flour demand. In recent years, Iraq has purchased wheat from the U.S., Australia, and Canada.