Iraq has bought a total of 350,000 tonnes of wheat from Australia and the United States in its latest tender, a spokesman for the Iraqi Grain Board said this week. "With this quantity, we'll be able to meet the ration requirements for March, April and May," Amer Abdul-Aziz said. Iraq is one of the world's […]
By Ronald P Verdonk, Agricultural Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Looking at Iraqi agriculture over the past year, relatively abundant rainfall in late 2009 and through the first quarter of 2010 led to bumper 2010 wheat and barley crops. With last year’s domestic wheat harvest at just over 2.5 million metric tons and […]
The city of Baghdad wants the United States to apologize and pay $1 billion for the damage done to the city not by bombs but by blast walls and Humvees since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Reuters reports that Baghdad's government issued its demands in a statement on Wednesday, saying that the city's […]
Dubai contractor Drake & Scull International is eyeing project tenders in Iraq in the second half of 2011 as it looks to break into new markets and diversify its income. Drake, whose biggest market is Saudi Arabia, is also keeping a close eye on political unrest in Egypt, where it is bidding for $200-300m worth […]
Crude production from oilfields in Iraqi Kurdistan has reached about 80,000 barrels per day, but only about 50,000 bpd are being exported, sources at Iraq's North Oil Company said on Friday. "We have between 45,000 and 50,000 barrels per day being pumped from the Tawke oilfield to the export pipeline, while crude from Taq Taq […]
Reuters reports that Iraq has fined Kuwait-based telecoms provider Zain $262 million for putting 5 million Sim cards in the local market without permission, contravening its licence. The company has three months to pay. Zain's Iraq unit will appeal the fine, its chief executive, Emad Makiya, said. "They have no right to issue such a […]
Violent protests have broken out at various locations in Iraq, with anti-government protesters rallying against corruption, poor basic services and high unemployment. Basra: In the country's second largest city, about 1,000 people protested on Friday, demanding better services, jobs and improved pensions. They called for the provincial governor to resign, and blocked a bridge for […]
This week marks the first birthday of our Iraq Business News weekly newsletter -- from a modest start, our newsletter is now read by nearly 8,000 people each week, while our website receives more than 100,000 visitors each month. Our readership includes some of the best-informed decision makers in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, security, […]
The Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said on Tuesday it had signed a contract with Hyundai, of South Korea, for the construction of four new power generating stations at the al-Quds [al-Qudus] Gas Plant. Musaab Mudarris, the spokesman for the ministry, said the construction of the four new stations with a capacity of 125 megawatts (MW) […]
Iraq will host its first Arab League Summit in two decades on March 29 despite ongoing unrest in the Middle East, a foreign ministry official said. The summit is seen as crucial for Iraq's reintegration into the Arab world and comes at a critical time in the region following popular protests that have unseated Tunisia […]
By Chris Bowers, British Consul General in Erbil. This article was originally published by Rudaw, and is re-published with permission by Iraq Business News. It has been an interesting few weeks in Kurdistan – though I think I could have safely written that each week that I have been here so far – as society […]
The Ministry of Planning and Development has reported that the inflation rate increased by 2% in January, bringing the rate to 5.8%. Abdul Zahra al-Hindawi told AKnews that the reasons behind the high inflation rate are higher rents and increases in the prices of imported food. The Ministry of Planning and Development in Iraq suggested […]
