Iraq buys 30,000 t of Uruguayan rice-grain board

Iraq has bought 30,000 tonnes of Uruguayan rice as a result of its last tender, the grain board said on Thursday.
 
"The approval (on the tender) came to bolster the staple for the coming months," Hassan Ibrahim, the head of the state-run grain board told Reuters on Thursday.

Iraq offered its last rice tender on August 3 to buy 30,000 tonnes with a deadline August 14, which ended in a purchase of 30,000 tonnes of Uruguayan rice.

Decades ago, Iraq was a leading grains producer, exporting wheat and barley. It was once the world's top exporter of dates.

But entrenched problems with soil salinity, poor irrigation and in the last three years, a severe drought, combined to make it a major buyer on world markets.