Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture announced on Saturday, October 10, 2026, the implementation of emergency market interventions aimed at curbing food inflation across domestic retail sectors, with a targeted focus on soaring table egg prices.
In coordinated moves overseen by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, the federal government suspended customs duties and import taxes on imported table eggs, poultry, and live livestock under direct instructions from Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi to expand food supplies and stabilize consumer prices.
Speaking to the Iraqi News Agency (INA), Ministry of Agriculture spokesperson Qusay Al-Hattab stated that the Minister of Agriculture directed rapid administrative interventions to neutralize sudden price spikes hitting household staples.
The waiver on customs and border levies is designed to streamline clearance procedures at border checkpoints, allowing immediate inflows of essential poultry and livestock products to increase market competition and protect consumer purchasing power following recent currency fluctuations.
Al-Hattab noted that the ministry had previously imposed strict import bans on specific greenhouse and open-field vegetables—predominantly eggplant, tomatoes, and cucumbers—to safeguard domestic farmers during high-yield harvest seasons.
These seasonal harvest cycles span between 40 and 50 days, during which specialized monitoring teams from the Department of Planning and Follow-up survey major wholesale terminals in Baghdad, including the Jamila, Al-Rasheed, and Zweini wholesale markets. Field inspectors monitor commodity volumes and price fluctuations, submitting real-time assessments to state authorities to determine when supply thresholds justify lifting import restrictions.
The spokesperson attributed current retail price volatility, particularly the recent surge in table egg cartons, to a combination of merchant speculation and the upward adjustment of the U.S. dollar exchange rate.
Al-Hattab stressed that the ministry is not remaining passive amid price increases, maintaining active oversight across wholesale distribution hubs, publishing daily comparative commodity price indexes on its official portal, and balancing the protection of domestic poultry producers with consumers’ access to reasonably priced food.
