BRASILIA, June 17 (Xinhua) - Visiting Iraqi Trade Minister Abdul Falah Al-Sudani on Tuesday said his country is interested in purchasing more food from Brazil, the biggest food producer in South America, local media reported Tuesday.

    Meeting with Brazilian Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Miguel Jorge in the city of Sao Paulo, Al-Sudani said that some 80 percent of the 8 million tons of food Iraq needs per year is imported, and Brazil enjoys the capacity to become Iraq's main food suppler.

    Al-Sudani said the international price hikes of oil, which Iraq exports, allow the Iraqi government to raise the amount of food it can import.

    Brazil exports such categories of food to Iraq as chicken, sugar and powdered milk, with exports worth 226 million U.S. dollars in 2007.