An Aussie/US Wheat War

This is interesting:

AUSTRALIA'S wheat farmers stand to lose about $800 million a year in export deals after Iraq yesterday suspended its relationship with the disgraced monopoly wheat exporter, AWB.

The Iraqi Grains Board said it would not buy Australian wheat until the Howard Government's Cole inquiry completed its investigation into claims AWB paid $290million in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime.

The decision immediately cost Australian farmers about $230million, cutting AWB out of Iraq's latest tender to supply a million tonnes of wheat, which will instead go to US farmers.

Australia was left out of a similar deal to provide $280million of wheat to Iraq last October, bringing total losses so far to more than $500 million, with future contracts under threat as the US takes a firmer grip on the Iraqi market.

$500 million is some serious bread (pun most definitely intended). What's even more interesting is that prior to the Iraq invasion, we had no business dealings with Iraq, now we will be adding hundreds of millions in just a few years.

I'm curious as to what other businesses have thrived since trade rekindled with Baghdad.