ECONOMY: Iraq’s Trade Ministry receives 800,000 tons of wheat

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraq ’s Trade Ministry has received about 800,000 tons of wheat in different parts of Iraq this year, according to a statement by the Ministry’s General Company for Trading of Crops on Sunday.   “The Company’s marketing positions have received 798,267 tons of wheat in different parts of Iraq,” Assistant Director General of the state-owned General Company for Trading of Crops, Jassem Mohammed Awad, told IraqiNews.com news agency.   Iraq ’s wheat crop occupies great significance, but it does not produce more than half of the quantity it needs annually, estimated at 5 million tons annually, part of which is covered through imports, though the current season shall witness a 12% increase to that of last year, according to the Iraqi Planning Ministry.   The General Company for Trading of Crops had announced earlier the transfer of the first payment of 200 billion (b) dinars, being the payments for peasants and marketers of wheat product in all Iraqi provinces.   SKH (IT)     695