Iraq's Etihad Food Industries is actively seeking contracts for the import of crude edible oils ahead of the planned start-up of its refinery early next year, the company said.

Etihad is negotiating contracts with three global suppliers but is seeking more because it will need a little more than one million tonnes a year when operating at full capacity, commercial director Haidar Al-Noumany told Reuters.

"Etihad is currently arranging contracts for the import of crude oil and we open our arms to everyone," Noumany said.

The Babil-based edible oils refinery will neighbour Etihad's sugar plant, which successfully shifted much of the country's imports to raw rather than white sugar last year.

"With the sugar plant we had a contract with one supplier for the raw sugar, but for the edible oils we are seeking multiple suppliers," Noumany said.

Etihad's sugar unit, which started in 2015 and ramped up production faster than expected, reduced the country's dependence on white sugar imports from regional refiners.

"The ministry of trade promised us that they will make their best efforts to give us an exclusive official decision to buy edible oils from Etihad, the same as for sugar," Noumany said.

The new refinery, which will have capacity of 1.1 million tonnes a year, is due to come online by February or March next year, he added.

Iraq's trade ministry needs about 456,000 tonnes of edible oils a year and a similar quantity is needed for the rest of the Iraqi market.

The refinery will process sunflower, soybean, corn and palm oils.

Noumany said that Etihad is looking for multiple origins, including Ukraine, Russia and Agentine, depending on the best offers.  - Reuters