September 27, 2006	Wednesday	Ramazan 3, 1427

KANSAS CITY, Sept 26: High prices for American wheat are a concern for Iraq as it seeks fresh supplies for the country’s bread-making and other needs, but the war-torn country is eager to begin buying US wheat again after a lengthy hiatus, an Iraqi trade official said on Tuesday.

“We will be buying American wheat ... but maybe not now.

American wheat is good and tasty, but it is also expensive,” said Abdul Hadi K. Al-Hamiri, an Iraq Ministry of Trade official and one of a group of trade officials who on Tuesday were visiting the Kansas City Board of Trade, the world’s largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.

There has been widespread market speculation over the last week that Iraq was poised to buy possibly one million tons, or more, of wheat.

But the Iraqi trade delegation, who have been crisscrossing the United States over the last week meeting with grain suppliers and US trade officials, said any formal announcement would have to wait until after a meeting in Iraq in October, and they stressed high prices were an issue.

Ferial Jawad, head of the grain import department of the Iraqi Grain Board and another member of the delegation visiting Kansas City, told Reuters that Iraq planned to buy at least enough for one month’s consumption needs, about 300,000 tons, with 90 per cent of the amount coming from the United States and the rest from Australia.

Jawad said American supplier Archer Daniels Midland Co. was able to offer attractive pricing.

—Reuters