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By Khalid al-Ansary and Missy Ryan
BAGHDAD, March 18 (Reuters) - The Iraqi cabinet has approved the purchase of 100,000 tonnes of Australian wheat and 50,000 tonnes of Russian wheat, a senior official at the country's Grain Board said on Wednesday.
The Australian wheat was bought at $230 per tonne FOB basis and the Russian wheat was bought at $202 per tonne FOB basis, Hassan Ibrahim, the Grain Board's deputy director general, told Reuters in an interview.
Ibrahim also said the cabinet had approved the purchase of 120,000 tonnes of U.S. rice at $539.4 per tonne FOB and 90,000 tonnes South American rice at $582 per tonne CIF.
Iraq, one of the world's leading wheat importers, has diversified towards new origins since last summer after making major U.S. wheat purchases in past years.
Annual Iraqi wheat consumption is about 4.5 million tonnes and annual rice consumption is just above 1 million tonnes, but demand for imports is high.
Local wheat output typically is 750,000-1,500,000 tonnes a year, and local rice production varies between 200,000 and 400,000 tonnes a year, board officials have said.
Iraq, the heart of the ancient Fertile Crescent, is struggling to overhaul a farm sector suffering from decades of isolation, underinvestment, poor irrigation and now drought.
Markets have been awash with rumours Iraq would soon make an Australian wheat purchase. A tender to purchase 50,000 tonnes of wheat closed on March 1 with bids remaining valid until March 3. Iraq generally buys more grain than originally sought.
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During a visit last week to Australia by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Australia heralded news that Iraq wanted to clinch a long-term supply arrangement in which it would buy 1 million tonnes of Australian wheat per year.
Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to oust Saddam Hussein, Iraq relied almost exclusively on Australian wheat, buying about 2 million tonnes a year.
But its imports were banned in 2006 when Australia's then-monopoly exporter AWB was found to have paid kickbacks to Saddam's government for wheat deals.
Australian sales have since resumed from other exporters, with wheat sales to Iraq totalling 348,000 tonnes in 2008.
In a tender reported on Feb. 9, Iraq's Grain Board bought a total of 350,000 tonnes of hard wheat. Traders said that included Canadian, Australian and German wheat.
Ibrahim said the current purchase may have taken longer to be finalised because, since it was considered a major amount, it required cabinet approval, which can take up to three days.
A major purchase could be anything between 50,000 and 100,000 tonnes, depending on prices and budgetary issues, he said. Smaller purchases are approved by the trade minister.
Ibrahim said Iraq, which had taken steps in recent years to increase transparency and regularity in grain procurement, had been continuing a policy of tendering for grain of any origin.
"This has been the board's policy...The reason we do this is to attract offers at the best prices," Ibrahim said. He did not comment on any reported long-term deal with Australia.
The rice purchase marks Iraq's first major U.S. rice buy since October 2007, based on data from the U.S. Agriculture Department. Iraq has not bought U.S. rice since then due to cheaper supplies from Thailand and Vietnam.
Iraq sought 30,000 tonnes of rice in a tender with a bid deadline for offers of March 1. Bids were valid until March 5.
Ibrahim said Iraq generally seeks, according to cooking and baking preferences, high gluten wheat and low starch rice. (Reporting by Khalid al-Ansary and Missy Ryan; additional reporting by Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; editing by James Jukwey and Sue Thomas)