Iraq’s stock of wheat sufficient until July 2024
An aerial view of a farmer drives his combine as he harvests wheat on a field in Karbala, Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Trade announced that the local production of wheat for 2023 will cover Iraq’s needs until July 2024, according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
An official in the Iraqi Trade Ministry told INA that Iraq’s need for wheat within a year is 4.6 million tons, indicating that wheat production in the current season reached 5.2 tons.
The Iraqi market needs about 4.2 million tons annually to achieve self-sufficiency in the wheat crop.
Iraq was self-sufficient in wheat during the three years before the war in Ukraine, with production of 4.7 million tons in 2019, 6.2 million tons in 2020, and about 4.2 million tons in 2021.
However, factors such as water scarcity and desertification led to a decrease in the local production of wheat, which reached about three million tons last season, prompting the Iraqi government to import wheat to cover the shortfall.
The lack of rain in the winter season constitutes the most significant challenge to the production of agricultural crops in Iraq, including wheat, rice and barley.