Wassim Bassem writes: You will not find any Iraqi grown vegetables and fruits in Iraq.  Instead you’ll find imported goods from Jordan, Turkey, Iran and the Gulf countries.

In fact, Iraqi agricultural products are not found in many local grocery stores, as if Iraq is no longer producing food products. The same applies to locally manufactured products, such as tissues, luxury items and drinks, which cannot be found in the markets. Yet, markets are overflowing with all sorts of imported goods.

Maytham Elaibi, an economist and academic researcher at the University of Baghdad, said that the major collapse in the domestic production of goods is attributed to “the economic policies that have failed to support factories and farm owners in making their products profitable.  The low salaries have prompted workers to move from the private to the public sector, which increased disguised unemployment, which is unproductive.”

Iraqis not only suffer from the absence of local goods, but also from widespread low-quality imports. They accuse traders of importing cheap commodities at the expense of quality, to realize the greatest possible profits. These practices were confirmed by China’s commercial attache in Iraq, Wang Xi Tong, who blamed the Iraqi traders of “importing poor-quality products.  The low-quality imports now also include medicines.

Protests took place in Basra, southeast of Baghdad, demanding that the market be revitalized with locally made products. Member of the Council of Representatives of Iraq Hamam Hamoudi called on March 18 for buttressing the local industry with locally made products to boost the country’s economy.

In this context, Salama al-Salhi, cultural consultant to the prime minister, said:  “Since 2003, the Iraqi market has been wide open to the entry of goods from various origins and of bad quality.” Salhi attributed the low-quality products to “the absence of quality control and consumer protection laws,” and the declining industrial and agricultural production to “the displacement of farmers to the cities because of desertification and their integration into the ranks of the armed forces.

Masoudi did not rule out the presence of “political goals behind the lack of advancement of the Iraqi production.” He added, “A war is being waged against Iraqi products, in favor of [products from] countries such as Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, which benefit from Iraq as a market consuming their goods.”  Government statistics show that Iraq’s imported goods are worth $65 million per year.