Iraq hopes to purchase palm oil directly from Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Reuters) - Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed HamidAlbar said Iraq hopes to purchase palm oil directly from Malaysia toenhance trade ties between the two countries, the official Bernama newsagency reported."Iraq wants to process vegetable ghee and needs to modernise itsrefineries. We will follow up on this," Syed Hamid was quoted as tellingreporters on Sunday.Iraq's demand for palm oil reaches 300,000 tonnes a year, said SyedHamid. Bernama gave no further details."The market is not sure how Iraq is going to do this when the embargois still in place. I don't think 300,000 tonnes is a big amount anyway,"said one trader in Kuala Lumpur.Iraq purchased 3,324 tonnes of palm oil directly from Malaysia in 2000,up from 268 tonnes in 1999.