VZCZCXRO6697
RR RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHGB #1382/01 1171445
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271445Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4130
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAGHDAD 001382 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD IZ
SUBJECT:  OFFICIAL ORDER TO CLOSE IRAQ'S BORDERS TO 
IMPORTED POULTRY PRODUCTS 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Post has received a copy of the official 
March 22, 2006 correspondence from the Cabinet of 
Ministers to all Ministries directing them "to prohibit 
entrance of chicken, table egg, and hatching egg to 
Iraq till further notice."  Imports for the Multi- 
national Forces are excluded.  The GOI says it took 
this step to protect the domestic poultry market and 
provide support for the development of the domestic 
poultry sector.  Post is vigorously engaging the GOI to 
reverse its decision.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------ 
Official Letter Contents 
------------------------ 
 
¶2.  The basic points of the official correspondence, 
signed by Secretary General Emad Dhia, are: 
 
-- To form a committee in the Ministry of Agriculture 
(MoA) to monitor egg and chicken prices in wholesale 
markets.  This committee is to have membership from 
private sector egg and poultry producers and from the 
Iraqi Consumer Protection Society. 
-- To give instructions to Governors and governorate 
councils to facilitate the movement of poultry products 
not subject to the ban. 
-- To allow imports of one-day-old egg and meat 
products and mother hens for breeding and production 
purposes, but only after getting all required approvals 
from the MoA. 
-- To give loans to poultry flock owners, and to 
instruct the Agricultural Bank to cooperate with them. 
-- To subsidize feed items supplied by the MoA at a 
rate of 50 percent of purchase cost until further 
notice. 
 
------------- 
Post Response 
------------- 
 
¶3.  Since receiving word last month that this document 
was in circulation, Post has made numerous contacts 
with Iraqi officials in the Deputy Prime Minister's 
office, the Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of 
Finance (Customs) and requested that the GOI reverse 
its decision.  We have stressed the inconsistency of 
this action with membership in the World Trade 
Organization (WTO), toward which the Government of Iraq 
is striving.  Post also noted the inconsistencies of 
the actions taken with regard to the current high 
pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) situation, citing FAO 
(Food and Agriculture Organization) and OIE (World 
Animal Health Organization) guidelines that stipulate 
that there is no science-based justification to halt 
the proper trade of poultry product from non-HPAI 
infected origins.  (Note:  The GOI had developed and 
maintained a list of countries from which poultry 
products are banned due to the presence of HPAI, and 
the United States is not on that list. End note.) 
 
¶4. Post also has pointed out the potential negative 
impact on consumer prices and local food supply of 
market distortions resulting from a poultry ban.  Since 
frozen poultry stocks currently stalled in Kuwait 
warehouses have already been bought and paid for by 
Iraqi importers, the action is impacting most severely 
the Iraqi private sector at a time when those 
businesses should be encouraged to develop, a major 
element in the phaseout of the GOI's Public 
Distribution System (PDS). 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5.  The exact impact of this measure is difficult to 
determine.  The southern border with Kuwait already had 
been closed to all poultry products (ostensibly to 
protect people from avian influenza) by the Basrah 
provincial government well in advance of this decision. 
Point 2 of the memo (instructions to Governors and 
governorate councils) is apparently an effort by the 
central government to regain control of that border as 
well as to address the obstruction of internal 
movements of poultry products, domestic and imported, 
by local governments.  It is also unclear whether the 
Kurdish Regional Government has implemented this 
measure, since companies handling U.S. products via 
Turkey report that the Ibrahim Khalil border complex 
continues tenuously to pass imported poultry products. 
 
 
BAGHDAD 00001382  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  Local traders also report rising consumer prices 
for all meat due to the short supply of poultry meat on 
the market.  Comments indicate that this is causing 
distortions in the market, including the slaughter of 
breeding ewes as market prices have jumped.  Such 
reactions to the current market situation will have 
longer-term negative economic implications for Iraqi 
agriculture. 
 
KHALILZAD