Miller Magazine Issue: 124 April 2020

38 NEWS MILLER / APRIL 2020 Iraq seeks to increase its grain stockpile Iraq's Trade Ministry is in need of more money from the budget to build three months' supply in its strategic wheat and rice stockpiles in the face of the country's growing coronavirus problems. Months of political deadlock have already delayed budget approvals for Iraq, a major Midd- le East grain importer. "It is necessary to have enough financial allocations to provide a strategic stockpile for three months, es- pecially given the law governing the ministry stresses its role in providing that stockpile in case of emergen- cies," the ministry statement said. "The lack of appro- val of a budget for the current year has affected the ministry's plans to increase each person's portion of subsidised goods." Iraq, which depends on oil revenue for 95 percent of its income, is expected to cut its spending rather than increa- se it as oil prices continue to suffer on the back of the col- lapse of the oil output pact between OPEC, of which Iraq is a member, and its allies. Crude oil's price crash comes as Iraq also contends with a political power vacuum since Adel Abdul Mahdi was ousted as prime minister after na- tionwide anti-corruption protests. The ministry did not reveal how low its stocks were but sources told Reuters on March 3 that stockpiles held enough rice for about two months. Iraq had planned to purchase 750,000 tonnes of wheat from abroad in 2020. The country needs between 4.5 million and 5 million ton- nes of wheat a year to supply its food rationing prog- ramme. It mixes local grain with supplies from Australia, Canada and the United States. REUTERS Kice expands its team with new sales manager Kice Industries announced the appointment of Sarah Lawson as its Technical Sales Manager, based out of Ponca City, OK. In this role, Lawson will be responsible for the oversight of sales throughout the Oklahoma and North Texas territories, providing support for this customer base for the diverse product lines offered by Kice. Lawson is a graduate of Oklahoma State University. Previously to joining Kice, Lawson spent over 14 years with Bliss Industries in their engineering, customer sup- port, and sales departments. “We are excited to welcome Sarah to Kice Industries, she will be a great asset for us as we support our custo- mers in this region, said Marshall Bird, Vice President of Sales, Kice Industries. Sarah has a proven track record in this industry that will be valuable to our customers. We look forward to her building strong partnerships with customers in this region.” Founded in 1946 in Wichita, Kan., Kice Industries designs complete industrial air systems and builds most of the equipment specified for these systems. Applica- tions include pneumatic conveying, dust control and aspiration. A multi-industry company, Kice Industries serves the grain, plastics, food, feed, wood and mine- rals industries. Sarah Lawson