More than 21,000 tonnes of Indian wheat meant for Iraq but stranded off Dubai for nearly three weeks could soon make its way to countries surrounding the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.

The wheat, initially headed for the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, may now go via Syria, Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait or Iran -- destinations the United Nations recently identified on its Web site (http://www.un.org) for shipments under its oil-for-food programme for Iraq.

"The United Nations has included our cargo in its priority list," said R K Jain, managing director of New Delhi-based Priyanka Overseas Ltd, which has been awarded contracts to supply 90,000 tonnes of wheat to Iraq under this programme.

"We are in touch with UN officials and are awaiting their instructions to ship the commodity to their chosen ports."

The United Nations said: "The office of the Iraq programme and the relevant UN agencies and programmes have prepared a list of priority contracts containing goods that are considered immediate priorities."

Indian firms won contracts in 2001 to supply a combined 600,000 tonnes of wheat under the UN programme and are eager that their shipments reach safely as they see a huge opportunity in the Iraqi market.

But in May 2001, Iraq rejected Indian wheat shipments on quality grounds. Indian traders then set up cleaning facilities at various ports.

The first and only successful delivery since then was by Priyanka, which sent 22,000 tonnes of wheat to Umm Qasr in February.

The second could be the shipments now stranded in Dubai, consisting of 17,850 tonnes sent by Priyanka and 4,000 tonnes, sent by a firm based in Ahmedabad.

Priyanka's Jain said he was not looking to sell the wheat to other buyers to avoid losses as delivering the stranded cargo to Iraq would pave the way for further shipments.