U.S. farmers see opportunity in Iraq
By Frederic J. Frommer
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — U.S. success in the war with Iraq has American farmers hoping they soon will resume exporting products from the world's breadbasket to the cradle of civilization.
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American agriculture has been shut out of Iraq, a major market, since the first Gulf War in 1991. Producers now see an opportunity to start selling wheat, rice and other goods once stability is restored.
Producers of wheat and other agricultural products are hoping to begin selling their goods in Iraq, as rehabilitation of the country begins.
"There's tremendous potential, a tremendous amount of people, and their food is based on wheat products," said Art Brandli, who farms 2,200 acres of wheat and canola in Warroad, Minn. "I would hope we could regain some of that market share we had before 1991."
Before the first war, Iraq imported about 1 million tons of U.S. wheat a year, according to U.S. Wheat Associates, the export arm of the wheat industry. Currently, only five countries import more than that: Mexico, Nigeria, the Philippines, South Korea and Egypt.
At current market prices of $140 a ton, that could translate to $140 million a year for the wheat industry.
"Once the war is over, U.S. Wheat Associates hopes to renew our friendships with Iraqi millers, bakers and buyers, and we hope to pick up where we left off in offering all the assistance they may need," said the group's president, Alan Tracy.
After the first war, food sales to Iraq were restricted to the United Nations' oil-for-food program. Australia was the main player in that program, exporting 2 million tons of wheat a year.
Iraq was also among the top 10 importers of peas and lentils in the 1980s, said Tim D. McGreevy, executive director of the U.S.A. Dry Pea & Lentil Council. Iraq bought about 8,000 metric tons of peas and about 5,000 metric tons of lentils annually, he said.
Another commodity that could get a foothold in a postwar Iraq is rice. In 1989, Iraq was the No. 1 importer of American rice, according to U.S.A. Rice Federation, a trade group, buying 319,000 tons of milled rice that year.
Still, the federation is not banking on new export opportunities.
"It's really too early to make any predictions," said John Mentis, the group's vice president for domestic and international promotion. "What's going to be the situation with the ports, of the infrastructure, of the economy, of financing, of the banking sector?"
While all of that is sorted out, some companies see an opportunity to sell food to U.S. government relief agencies.
"We're real optimistic there will be an opportunity," said John Didion, chief executive of Didion Milling, based in Johnson Creek, Wis. The company mills corn and soybeans into products such as corn flour, grits and soy-fortified corn meal. More than half of Didion's sales are to the Agriculture Department for famine relief around the world.
"The corn and soybean market in Wisconsin has been flat, so this is an opportunity to provide new and better markets to area producers," Didion said.
