Iraq’s Kurd regional government postpones poultry import licensing law

The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has postponed a law, which requires several certificates regarding poultry product and egg imports, Turkey’s Economy Minister Çaglayan said. The regional government’s decision gives Turkish companies more time to comply with the code, which will go into effect by Jan. 1, 2013.

The northern Iraqi administration has postponed a demand requiring a group of certifications for poultry and egg imports, which is good news for Turkish producers, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said in a written statement.

The Kurdish Regional Government postponed a regulation that requires a certificate of plant health or veterinary certificate for food imports, as well as certification that they do not contain genetically modified organisms, melamine, dioxin or lard by January 1, 2013, said Çağlayan.

Iraq is the most important market for Turkey in terms of poultry meat and egg exports, Çağlayan said. Turkey sold US$192 million of poultry meat and US$163 million of eggs to Iraq in the first seven months of the year, a large portion of which went to the north of the country under Kurdish administration. Turkey’s total poultry products and egg exports were US$276 million and US$179 million respectively in the same period.

Respectively, this means that 70% of Turkey’s exports go to Iraq, and 91% of its eggs.

Turkey’s total exports to Iraq between January and July increased 37.2 % year-on-year reaching $5.96 billion, he said.

“Iraq is in third place in terms of Turkey’s largest export markets, according to the data.

“Turkish food exports to Iraq increased 36.8% to US$1.93 billion in the same period. This figure makes up nearly 23% of the total agricultural exports of Turkey, US$8.46 billion. Most of the food exports to Iraq go to northern Iraq. Work to prevent any possible difficulties in the Iraqi market, which has an important place in Turkey’s food product exports, is ongoing. All measures will be taken regarding the regulations that the Kurdish Regional Government plans to introduce in 2013 and the exporters will be informed accordingly,” Çağlayan said.

Source: the Hurriyet Daily News