Iraq: Erbil, exports veg to Mosul at lower prices

Since the liberation of the eastern half of Mosul about three months ago, the Kurdish economy has fo…

Since the liberation of the eastern half of Mosul about three months ago, the Kurdish economy has found a new market with as many 300 loads of trucks making their way to the city, with some of the food items eventually ending up on the right bank of the Tigris River where the Iraqi armed forces are fighting against the remaining ISIS militants.

Nabi Younis is one of the biggest and busiest markets of eastern Mosul. But the produce here nearly all makes its way from Erbil into what was once Iraq’s second-largest city.

“Tomatoes are brought here from Erbil through Gogjali,” a grocer told Rudaw in Mosul. “The wholesale price for the best quality tomato is 500 [Iraqi dinars] for one kilo. Then we sell one kilo for 750, and two kilos for 1, 250. [The wholesale price] for Aubergines is also 500 and we sell it for 750.”

Despite the fact that food items are brought from Erbil to Mosul with some 80 km distance between them, meaning extra transportation fees, the prices are surprisingly more expensive in the Kurdish city. A Kurdish grocer in Erbil said that the difference in price is because the consumers in Mosul are for lower quality produce.

“There are three categories in terms of quality. Certainly they do not import the good quality ones,” he said where a kilo of tomatoes is between 1,000 to 1,500. "They take the worst to Mosul because people there are poor. Whereas here, consumers want good quality produce.”