Iraq has issued a freight tender to deliver 200,000 tonnes of sugar to its main Umm Qasr port during December and January, traders said on Friday.
The tender is the second under a new buying policy aimed at lowering the cost of commodity imports after Iraq earlier this week sought shippers for 800,000 tonnes of US wheat bought from trading company Dreyfus.
Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi, who heads the State Contracts Committee and the Energy Council, told Reuters Iraq has already received offers to ship the wheat and sew no problems for commodity shipments at Umm Qasr.
Although several regional shippers say the port has yet to prove it can handle cargo, Chalabi said the port had returned to pre-2003 war operating levels.
"We are very pleased at the responses we have received to Iraq's first freight tender," Chalabi said from Baghdad.