2026-10-11T12:44:01+00:00
Shafaq News- Erbil
The Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s (KRI) Agriculture Ministry on Sunday warned that Baghdad’s decision to suspend customs and tax duties on imported frozen chicken cuts and table eggs could severely damage local production and investment in the poultry sector.
Ministry adviser Rizgar Hama Khidr said in a press conference that the federal government adopted the measure without prior consultation with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), arguing that it conflicted with existing agreements and efforts to protect domestic producers.
Khidr said the government should instead remove duties and taxes on poultry-production inputs to help local farms expand capacity. He cited the KRI’s restrictions on egg and frozen poultry imports as measures that had supported the local market.
According to ministry figures, the Region has around 2,100 poultry projects with annual production capacity of about 450,000 tons of meat, of which roughly 350,000 tons are supplied to central and southern Iraq.
KRI also has 59 table-egg projects capable of producing about 4.8 billion eggs annually. Around 1.8 billion are consumed locally, while approximately three billion are supplied to central and southern provinces.
Source: Shafaq News
