USA RICE MEETS WITH IRAQI GRAIN BOARD AND REESTABLISHES US-IRAQ RICE TRADE

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 26, 2004 — A delegation of U.S. rice industry members led by the USA Rice Federation returned from Amman, Jordan this week after a successful summit with high-level officials with the Iraqi Grain Board that resulted in reestablishing trade. The group discussed immediate rice sales opportunities and the benefits of renewing the long-term relationship that existed prior to the U.S. government embargo in 1990.

“The USA Rice team absolutely maximized the opportunity to increase rice sales in the short term and reestablish a long-term working relationship that will enable Iraq to become a major importer of U.S. rice,” said delegation member Lee Adams.

In a two-hour meeting on Tuesday, the U.S. delegation presented the FGIS/USDA No 2 specification and answered specific Iraqi questions about their rice tender requirements used in the last World Food Programme tender for 70,000MT. Also discussed in detail were terms and conditions of payment, shipping times and destinations, and immediate availability of rice.

It is anticipated that the Iraqi Grain Board will make its first non-WFP tender for a substantial quantity of rice within the next week.

During his opening comments at the start of the summit, Minister of Trade Director General Ahmad Al-Mukhtar said the Iraqi people have good memories of past purchases of high-quality U.S. rice. Al-Mukhtar said he wants to reestablish the close ties between the two countries. To help accomplish this, the MOT will take over grain purchases by the end of March completely phasing out World Food Program tenders. Additional rice tenders are anticipated in the short term because buffer stocks of rice are the lowest of any other commodity. Iraq has sufficient financial resources to make all necessary rice purchases for the rest of the calendar year.

Getting U.S. rice into Iraq is the USA Rice Federation’s top priority for 2004. Doing so would mean regaining access to the U.S. rice industry’s former number one market. During the 1980s, U.S. rice sales to Iraq averaged 345,000 metric tons annually, with sales exceeding 500,000 metric tons in peak years. The U.S. rice industry lost the market when the embargo was imposed. In recent years, Iraq’s annual rice imports from other world suppliers have averaged a million metric tons.

USA Rice participants include Adams, USA Rice President and CEO Stuart Proctor, International Promotion Middle East Director Hartwig Schmidt, Marvin Baden, Terry Harris, Kevin McGilton, Warren Bassel, and Todd Burich. In addition, USA Rice consultant Simon Bakht of AMFI and two of his colleagues were on hand to assist the USA Rice team while in Jordan.

“The U.S. rice industry should thank the Federation members who did an outstanding job explaining the technical aspects of trade between the two countries and the quality of U.S. rice,” said Proctor. “It was a very credible presentation.”

The USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs, developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice, and providing other services to increase industry profitability for all industry segments. For more information, or to obtain a copy of the letters, visit www.usarice.com

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