"We will finalise the deal tomorrow. We have two American companies. The two might win the contract or it may be awarded to one of them," the official told Reuters.
He said Iraq chose US wheat over Australian because only the US companies agreed to sell the wheat on FOB terms while the Australians insisted on CIF.
"The policy in the ministry is that we buy according to FOB and then our transport ministry will be in charge of the shipping. The Australians do not want this," he said. Iraq has said it will buy one million tonnes of wheat every 40 days until early next year to fill strategic reserves.