Alarm in Washington.. The American ambassador in Baghdad receives a message: Go to Al-Kazemi
Alarm in Washington.. The American ambassador in Baghdad receives a message: Go to Al-Kazemi
2021-06-26 00:36
Shafaq News/ Iraq bought two shipments of white rice from Uruguay to supplement the ration card basket, while negotiations are underway with Argentine exporters for the same purpose, which caused the United States of America to object and put pressure on Iraqi officials to abide by the previously concluded agreement between the two parties.
The London-based Standard & Poor’s Global Platts agency, which deals with benchmark prices and analyzes of energy and commodity markets, stated that “the Iraqi Ministry of Trade has directly supplied rice for its distribution plan through a special memorandum of understanding concluded with the United States. However, the Iraqi government contracted With a private company to buy rice on behalf of the government through direct negotiations.”
The London agency added, “The private company called (Al Owais) has purchased 60,000 metric tons of Uruguayan rice in recent days, and Argentine exporters are also in discussions with the company.”
And she pointed out that “the first shipment from Uruguay, with a tonnage of 30,000 metric tons of white rice, was sold at about $560 per ton on board.”
American mobilization
The agency concerned in this regard pointed out that “the US rice industry, in response to these developments, pressed lawmakers in Washington to meet with Iraqi officials to discuss the issue, fearing that the new system would bypass the memorandum of understanding.”
And she indicated that “the US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Tueller, received a letter signed by 12 members of Congress earlier this month, in which they said (the future of our rice exports to Iraq is threatened), because subcontracting to purchase rice to another entity will invalidate the memorandum of understanding. The US-Iraqi rice was in place for five years and led to the sale of more than 350,000 metric tons ($180 million) of American rice.”
According to the London agency, “a similar letter signed by seven members of the US Senate, including Senator John Bozeman, a member of the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, appealed to Senators (Toller) to meet with the Iraqi Prime Minister to address this development.”
The letter adds that “in the absence of a transparent bidding system…we will surely lose this top export market.”
She noted that (Rice), a US industry lobby, told (Platts) via email that “the process of transferring purchasing authority from the Iraqi Grain Board to the Food Division was done quietly, without consultations with the US rice industry or the US government.”
And concluded by saying, “It gives high priority to the renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and the Iraqi government, which is scheduled to expire in December of this year.”
Iraqi confirmation
On Saturday, the Iraqi Ministry of Transport (the General Company for Land Transport) announced the transfer of (31,500) thousand tons of imported Uruguayan rice to the Ministry of Trade, as part of the contract concluded with them to secure the items of the ration card.
The company’s general manager, Mortada Al-Shahmani, said, in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency, that “after completing the procedures for docking the ship and the laboratory examination of the rice material, the road transport drivers went to Basra Governorate, to transport the rice material, in order to implement the directives of the Minister of Transport, Nasser Hussein Al-Shibli, in support of securing food requirements. essential for the citizen in record time.
shafaq.com
