The political and safety situation in Iraq today is making it very difficult to conduct business within the country, especially for companies and farmers that would like to export U.S. feed grains into the market. However, that’s going to change in the next couple years according to some Iraqi businessmen that the U.S. Grains Council Corn Mission team met with. We met with them over a dinner of Masgouf, which you see cooking around this open pit fire. Masgouf is a traditional Iraq dish of fresh, whole fish that are seasoned with salt, pepper and tamarind and slow cooked on stakes around a fire. The fish used for our meal were carp.
While our Masgouf was cooking I spoke with one of the board members of the Iraq company that was represented at the dinner. He says they have always imported from America. He says American grain is “the best and very clean.” He says the market is somewhat limited right now but will get better in the future. He says that once things stabilize their poultry sector will grow quickly. He enjoyed meeting with American corn growers.
You can listen to my interview with the Iraq businessman below: