NEW DELHI: The government is looking at massive agri-business opportunities in war-ravaged Iraq, including those for sale of wheat, rice, tea and sugar, the commodities which have a large demand in any humanitarian operation.

"There will be demand for foodgrains even in a country ravaged by war and India can export the same to Iraq," Union agriculture minister Ajit Singh said. Opportunity for sale of Indian farm products to Iraq comes at a time when the UN World Food Programme has launched the biggest humanitarian operation in its history, food ministry officials said.

Senior WFP official, Maarten Roest when contacted in Amman, said the organisation has appealed for $1.3bn to fund its emergency response to the Gulf War-II. Exporters feel it is unlikely that all agri-requirements will be traced to the US alone and India has a good opportunity to cater to these needs.

The United Nations has already identified four new locations where bulk shipments of emergency food and other items could be sent for use in Iraq, once the humanitarian workers return to the country.

The locations are Latakia in Syria, Iskenderun in Turkey, Aqaba in Jordan, and Kuwait City. A number of Indian orders including those for wheat and sugar are on a priority list and are expected to be delivered shortly.

Tea exporters are also gung-ho about trade prospects with Iraq. Nearly 17,850 tonne wheat consignment sent by Delhi-based firm is at present stranded in the seawaters between Bahrain and Dubai, while its 13,500 tonne white sugar is also held up near Jordan.

Another 4,500 tonne wheat cargo is also waiting to be discharged. India has contracted export of six-lakh tonne wheat to Iraq under the UN oil-for-food programme and the delivery began only in February this year when a cargo of 22,000 tonne was cleared after a 20-month deadlock.

A senior official of the firm said to divert the Iraq-bound cargo elsewhere in west Asia will be a loss making proposition and will amount to distress sale at dirt-cheap prices.

Instead a demurrage of $4,000 per day is being paid, till the cargo is discharged in Iraq, he added. Iraq has also emerged as the second largest importer of Indian tea, next only to Russia owing to competitive bidding and high qualitative standards.

According to official Tea Board figures, India exported 36.3m kg in January-October ‘02, up from a mere 12.6m kg in the same period in the previous year.

Sugar market in Iraq also opened up to India with two cargoes being delivered to the west Asian country last year through third parties.

The Indian Sugar Exim Corporation has contracted export of another 35,000 tonne to Iraq through an Egyptian buyer and two cargoes had already been delivered while another was stranded in the west Asian sea waters.

Traders feel once the sanctions are lifted, one-to-one deals will become a commonplace for export of farm products. Individual deals and the UN humanitarian programme are both good avenues of trade, they said.

AGENCIES[ FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 2003 04:11:46 AM ]