العراق
Commercially, Iraq is two markets that happen to share a border. Baghdad and Erbil buy the way Gulf retail buys. Najaf and Karbala buy the way a pilgrimage economy buys — and that is a different product, a different price and a different calendar.
The pilgrimage trade moves volume at accessible price points: smaller diameters, pressed amber, high unit counts, with demand concentrating hard around Arbaeen and Muharram. Baghdad and Erbil retail behaves like the Gulf — natural amber, 10–12 mm, collector interest in large single-tone strands.
Arbaeen concentrates one of the largest annual gatherings on earth into a few weeks, and the beads sold around it are ordered months ahead. Working backwards from Arbaeen rather than from a purchase-order date is the difference between a programme that lands and one that arrives as a warehouse problem. We plan Iraqi volume orders against the Hijri calendar, not the Gregorian one.
Letters of credit through Iraqi banks are slow and frequently need a correspondent bank that adds cost and weeks. Most of our Iraqi business settles by advance telegraphic transfer against a proforma, or through the client’s existing UAE trading entity. We will say plainly which structure we can work with rather than accepting terms we cannot clear.
Air freight into Baghdad, Basra and Erbil is straightforward. Sea via Umm Qasr works for volume programmes where the timeline allows. A significant share of goods still reaches Iraq through Dubai re-export, and if that is how your supply chain already runs we will ship to your Jebel Ali consolidator instead.
Baghdad and Erbil retail follows the Gregorian commercial year with Ramadan layered on it. The Najaf and Karbala pilgrimage trade follows the Hijri calendar absolutely, and Arbaeen concentrates one of the largest annual gatherings on earth into a few weeks. A programme planned against the wrong calendar arrives as a warehouse problem rather than as stock, and the eleven-day annual drift means a schedule that worked last year will not this year.
Volume at accessible price points: pressed amber at 6 to 8 mm, high counts, simple furniture and packaging that survives being handled by a great many people. It is a genuinely different product from Baghdad retail and should be quoted as one. We would rather build two specifications from one reserved material batch than compromise a single specification into serving neither well.
The Kurdistan Region operates its own customs administration and its own commercial rhythm, and consignments frequently route through Turkey overland rather than through Umm Qasr. Buyers serving Erbil should plan it as a distinct entry point rather than assuming national coverage from a Baghdad clearance, and we will prepare documentation accordingly.
Yes, and they should be placed four to five months ahead. Pressed amber at 6–8 mm is the usual specification for that trade; we hold colour consistency across the whole run so a repeat order matches.
Advance telegraphic transfer against a proforma invoice, or an LC through a bank we can actually clear. We will tell you before you commit which of the two your structure supports.
Yes. Delivery to a Jebel Ali or Dubai freight forwarder is common for Iraqi buyers and we handle it as a normal UAE shipment.
Four to five months, planned against the Hijri calendar. The eleven-day annual drift means last year’s schedule will not work this year.
No. The Kurdistan Region has its own customs administration and consignments often route overland through Turkey. It should be planned as a separate entry point.
Send the volume, the channel and the delivery date. We reply within one business day with a specification and an honest timeline.