Iraq- Umm Qasr port receives ship carrying 31,000 tons of rice 

(MENAFN - Aswat Al-Iraq) Basra's port of Umm Qasr on Wednesday received a ship carrying more than 31,000 tons of rice for the trade ministry, according to information chief of the Public Company for Cereals Trade.

"A ship carrying 31.500 tons of Thai rice arrived on Wednesday in Umm Qasr port," Aamer Abdulaziz told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The Shiite province of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has five commercial ports and two oil ports: al-Maaqal, established in 1916 by the British forces and handed over to Iraqi authorities in 1937; and Faw, a small port on the al-Faw Peninsula near the Shatt al-Arab waterway and the Gulf.

In the early 1970s, Umm al-Qasr port was built, and in 1974, Khour al-Zubeir and Abu Fallous ports were established on the Shatt al-Arab.

Basra is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer.

The city played an important role in early Islamic history.

The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells.

The city's oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock.

A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname "The Venice of the Middle East" at least at high tide.