After two decades of neglect... Iraq adopts a strategy to invest in phosphate, 23 APRIL

 After two decades of neglect... Iraq adopts a strategy to invest in phosphate

 Oil is not the only thing that Iraq owns, but due to the political and security conditions that the country has witnessed over the past years, successive governments have not succeeded in investing in mineral resources other than oil, which has made Iraq a hostage to oil export operations, which constitute the main source of the country’s budget with more than 95%.

With Iraq possessing a huge reserve of phosphate, amounting to 9 percent of the global reserve, Representative Mudar Al-Karawi revealed the adoption of a strategy to invest in phosphate and operate its factories.

It is noteworthy that phosphate, fertilizer, brick, paste and pharmaceutical factories are all stopped or almost stopped, although they are intertwined with the agricultural and industrial sectors.

Al-Karawi said in a press statement, “Iraq possesses huge reserves of phosphate, which is used in various industries, including fertilizers of various kinds, and which constitutes an economic sector whose financial ceilings worldwide reach tens of billions of dollars annually.”

He added, "Despite the huge reserves of phosphate, Iraq imports 60-70% of its needs from abroad at double prices," pointing out that "the government has actually begun to adopt a strategy for investing in phosphate, operating its factories, and pumping its production, especially since phosphate represents the third largest natural wealth in the country." The country after oil and gas.

He pointed out that "the documented reserves in several regions of Iraq, especially the western one, indicate that they are sufficient for production for many decades, meaning that we are facing a wealth that will not be depleted in the short term, in light of the presence of dozens of markets to receive it in order to revive agriculture."

The specialized international economic website Statista published a report on the natural resources possessed by the countries of the world, where Iraq ranked ninth in the world, as it possesses 15.9 trillion dollars in natural resources, and its desert terrain contains oil, natural gas, phosphate and sulfur, according to the website.

Crude oil constitutes about 90 percent of state budget revenues, while other imports are marginal in the form of taxes and customs revenues, and some revenues from the transportation and communications sector, among others.

Iraq has a reserve amounting to 9 percent of the global reserve of phosphate, but this huge reserve has remained buried underground since 2003 and has not been invested or exported, at a time when the country depends on importing this material, which is used in many industries.

The annual export rate of phosphate products from Iraq abroad, especially to East Asian countries, before the Gulf War in 1991, amounted to half a million tons annually, with almost constant revenues that were included within the country’s non-oil resources.

Most of the phosphate reserves are located in the Al-Qaim region, and the area extending over 80 kilometers is known as “phosphate mines.”

Phosphate plants in Anbar have turned into rubble since 2003, despite the dependence of many industries on this material, in addition to its previously supplying the state treasury with 22 percent of its revenues during the previous regime.

The industrial sector in Iraq in general has been facing a major deterioration since the year 2003 until now, with most factories stopping and turning to imports. The Federation of Iraqi Industries estimated years ago the percentage of stalled projects at 40 thousand projects, and successive government programs always include a theme of revitalizing the local economy and industry. However, without achieving any promise, the wheel of trade exchange with the countries of the region continues while neglecting the local industry.  link