Wheat Australia, a consortium of three Australian grains groups, said on Wednesday it has tendered to sell wheat to Iraq, after Iraq banned dealings with Australia's monopoly exporter AWB Ltd.
Wheat Australia was formed after the Iraqi Grain Board said last month that it had suspended dealings with AWB while a government inquiry looked into alleged AWB kickbacks to the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein. A Wheat Australia spokeswoman declined to reveal the tonnage of wheat involved or other details.
"Discussions are continuing to take place," she told Reuters. The company has said previously it was working on a deal to export 350,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq.
Wheat Australia is jointly owned by barley exporter ABB Grain Ltd, Western Australian bulk handler and exporter Co-operative Bulk Handling, and eastern grains bulk handler and trader GrainCorp Ltd.
The inquiry, into AWB's wheat sales during the now-defunct United Nations oil-for-food programme, is due to report by June 30. In the interim, AWB has agreed to allow Australian wheat exports to Iraq to be handled by other groups. Wheat Australia has said in the past it planned to source wheat for export to Iraq from AWB's export pool.
"We're currently negotiating with the party to ensure that the souring of the wheat is out of the national pool, which will ultimately supply benefits to the Australian wheat farmers," AWB spokesman Peter McBride said on Wednesday.
Iraq in the past has been one of Australia's biggest markets, taking up to 2 million tonnes a year. It is still one of the largest wheat importers in the world.