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GFMM desk: The Iraqi Ministry of Commerce said on Friday (March 21, 2020) that the rice cargo inspection of the Vietnamese was delayed by force curfew to control coronavirus outbreak in the country.
“Because of the curfew and the difficulty for the inspection team to leave Baghdad, the grain board sent a team from Basra,” Zoheir al-Jalabi, a trade ministry official said in a statement.
A nationwide curfew is in place until April 11, borders are shut and international flights are halted as part of efforts to control the spread of the disease. Iraq’s main commodities port of Umm Qasr is located near Basra.
Iraq has more than 450 coronavirus cases so far and around 40 deaths, but case numbers are likely to be far higher because testing facilities are limited in a country with a healthcare system that is already stretched.
The inspection team faced further delays due to difficulty sourcing protective gear, the statement said.
The ministry issued its statement after criticism from a member of parliament, Kadhim al-Hamami, on social media that the vessel had been waiting for 10 days for inspection at a time when the domestic market is in dire need for the rice to be distributed through Iraq’s food rationing programme.
Iraq, a major Middle Eastern wheat and rice importer, said on Wednesday it needed to import 250,000 tonnes of rice in the coming weeks to boost its strategic stocks and provide the staple product to its citizens.
The food programme, created in 1991 to combat U.N. economic sanctions, covers flour and rice as well as cooking oil and sugar.
Vietnam said on Wednesday (March 25, 2020) it would restrict its rice sales abroad amid concerns over domestic availability. The world’s third largest exporter of the grain said it would not sign any new rice export contracts until March 28 at the earliest as it checks whether it has sufficient domestic supplies to cope during the outbreak.
Source: Online/SZK
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