Why Iraq in 2026
Iraq is a cooling market first. Summer forecasts of 50°C are routine in Basra, Maysan and Dhi Qar, and Basra holds the national record of 53.6°C, set in July 2016. Air conditioning runs at full load for months, and in larger buildings most of that air moves through sheet metal duct. Four kinds of project carry the demand in 2026.
Housing and new cities
Bismayah New City, southeast of Baghdad, is the largest. Its master plan covers 100,080 apartments in 834 buildings across 8 towns, according to the National Investment Commission (NIC). In December 2024 the developer, Hanwha, signed a revised contract worth about USD 10.4 billion for the remaining units, subject to approval by the Council of Ministers. We could not confirm whether full construction has restarted, so treat it as a lead to follow. Al-Jawahiri City in Abu Ghraib, planned for more than 24,500 units, was inspected by the NIC in February 2026, and the design of Ali Al-Wardi City, planned at 120,000 houses, was approved in January 2025.
Be realistic: apartments are mostly cooled by split units. The duct is in what each new city builds around the homes: schools, clinics, malls, offices, service buildings and car park ventilation.
Hospitals
In November 2025 the Ministry of Health reported 62 new hospitals, 21 specialised centres and 78 other health facilities completed, taking national capacity to 53,000 beds, with 16 more hospitals of 500 beds each under construction. In September 2026 the ministry said ten more hospitals of 100 to 490 beds would open within six months, and the private 400-bed Baghdad International Hospital broke ground in October 2025. Operating theatres and laboratories need tightly sealed, often stainless duct; see our cleanroom duct guide and galvanised vs stainless comparison.
Oil, gas and Basra
The Gas Growth Integrated Project (GGIP) in Basra, led by TotalEnergies with Basra Oil Company and QatarEnergy, entered its final phase in September 2025: full development of the Ratawi field to 210,000 barrels per day by 2028, and the Common Seawater Supply Project. MEED reported in May 2026 that foundations were under way for the gas processing complex at Ratawi. Control rooms, substations, workshops and accommodation on such sites all need HVAC, built to the operator's specification, often with pressurised rooms and heavier gauge duct.
Commercial building in Baghdad, Basra and the Kurdistan Region
Offices, retail, hotels and factories are the routine work of most contractor shops. In the Kurdistan Region the Erbil Directorate of Investment reported 850 investment licences in total, with nearly 50 issued in the first half of 2026, and Erbil hosted its 16th International Construction and Reconstruction Exhibition in August 2026.
Standards and codes for ductwork in Iraq
We found no Iraqi national standard for sheet metal duct construction. In 2024 the Cabinet set up an Iraqi Construction Council whose tasks include developing a Unified Iraqi Building Code. In practice an Iraqi duct shop builds to the project specification, and where international or regional consultants design the job that is usually American practice.
- SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards: the usual reference for gauges, seams, transverse joints, reinforcement and hangers. For example, a UNOPS electromechanical specification for medical imaging works in Jalawla, Diyala, requires rectangular and round duct to be fabricated and supported to SMACNA, with gauges, reinforcing and sealing for the operating pressures shown. See our SMACNA gauge chart and seal classes guide.
- ASTM A653 galvanised sheet: the same specification calls for lock-forming quality sheet to ASTM A653 with G60 or G90 zinc coating. Check what your client names before you order coil; our coil specification guide explains the grades.
- ASHRAE: used for design data and equipment ratings (that specification rates filters to ASHRAE 52.1). It drives airflows and duct sizes, not construction details.
- Iraqi Green Architecture Code (2019): issued by the housing ministry with the Central Organization for Standardization and Quality Control (COSQC) to cut environmental impact. In a 50°C climate insulation and leakage matter; see our insulation guide and air leakage classes guide.
- Operator specifications: on oil and gas sites the operator's engineering standards govern materials, gauges and testing.
- DW/144: some consultants trained on British practice write DW/144 instead of SMACNA. See our DW/144 guide.
Importing duct machinery into Iraq
- Customs duty: duties are set under Customs Tariff Law No. 22 of 2010. Cabinet Decision 957, approved in October 2025 and enforced from early 2026, revised the schedule across about 16,400 tariff lines, with rates from 0.5% to 30%; industrial raw materials sit at about 0.5% to 2%. Duct forming and folding machines usually fall under HS heading 8462, but the rate depends on the full tariff line, so ask your customs broker to classify the machine and confirm the rate. We do not quote a figure here.
- Tax deposit: importers pay an income tax deposit, reported at 3% for most non-food goods, later deducted from their tax bill. A rule requiring duties and the deposit to be paid through the ASYCUDA customs system before banks release foreign transfers started on 1 October 2026 and was reported suspended a week later, so ask your broker which procedure applies.
- Exchange rate: on 7 October 2026 the official end-user rate moved from 1,320 to 1,520 dinars per US dollar. Machines are priced in dollars, so recheck your budget.
- Conformity, federal Iraq: COSQC runs a pre-shipment programme (VOC Iraq) through appointed bodies such as Bureau Veritas and Intertek. Regulated products, in groups including electrical and electronic products and construction products, need a Certificate of Conformity before shipment, and regulated consignments arriving without one are subject to rejection; other goods receive a Certificate of Inspection. Since Decision 121/2026 the Iraqi Quality Mark is optional. We could not confirm whether a duct forming machine is on the regulated list, so ask the inspection body with the HS code before shipment.
- Kurdistan Region: the region runs its own customs at crossings such as Ibrahim Khalil, and Intertek is the sole certification body for Certificates of Conformity on regulated consignments there. Baghdad and Erbil announced an agreement in August 2026 to unify customs through ASYCUDA, but tariff disputes were still reported at the end of that month. Until unification is complete, goods cleared in the Kurdistan Region pay a complementary fee for the tariff difference when they move to central and southern Iraq, so clear the machine where it will be installed.
Umm Qasr handles nearly all of Iraq's seaborne container traffic; Kurdistan shipments usually arrive by road through Ibrahim Khalil. Tell us your port or crossing when you request a quotation, and see our importing guide. Taokron machines are CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity and ship with electrical diagrams and component lists for the inspection body.
Power supply: 230/400 V, 50 Hz, and generators
Iraq runs at 50 Hz. The usual nominal values are 230 V single phase and 400 V three phase, although some older installations are still described as 220/380 V. COSQC's rules for mains-connected electrical products call for a rated voltage that includes 220, 230 or 240 V single phase or 380, 400 or 415 V three phase, and 50 Hz. Machines wired for 380 to 415 V three phase at 50 Hz suit most Iraqi workshops; measure your supply and tell us. See duct machine voltage and frequency by country.
Supply is the bigger issue. An energy report put Iraq's generation at about 29 GW at the end of January 2026 against roughly 40 GW of demand, and many businesses run private generators alongside the grid in summer. In the Kurdistan Region, officials reported in April 2026 that more than 85% of households had 24-hour power under the Runaki programme. On generator power, size for the starting current of the largest motors and hydraulic pumps, keep voltage and frequency stable for PLC-controlled lines, and consider a UPS for the control circuit. In a 50°C summer, plan cooling for control cabinets and hydraulic oil. Our power requirements guide lists typical loads.
Typical Iraqi shop set-ups and the machines that fit
Contractor shop, rectangular duct first
For most contractor shops serving offices, hospitals and malls, rectangular galvanised duct is the bulk of the work, so build the shop around it. A practical core is a Rectangular Duct Line II SBAL-II (0.5 to 2.0 mm sheet, 1250 or 1550 mm wide) or an Auto Duct Line SBAL-III with electrical feeding and hydraulic notching and shearing. Add a Pittsburgh lockformer (SBLC series) for longitudinal seams, a TDF flange forming machine for transverse joints, a Duct Zipper SBHF-1.5×1500TDF to close seams on 0.8 to 1.5 mm sheet, and a pneumatic folder for fittings. An auto corner making machine and a pneumatic corner mounting machine take the TDF corner work off the bench. That set covers straight duct, TDF joints and simple fittings with a small crew; if a consultant asks for angle iron joints, see our TDF vs angle flange guide.
Volume shop for hospitals, new cities and oil projects
Shops bidding on hospital packages, new city service buildings or oil sector work need output and repeatable quality that an inspector can check against SMACNA. The Auto Duct Line SBAL-V is a U-shape line that runs from coil to finished panel for TDF, angle flange and drive cleat duct. A Plasma Cutter SBPC1550 cuts fittings from nested drawings, and a hydraulic folder handles heavier gauges and long bends. For a real example of a full rectangular shop, see Airtemp Canberra, which installed eight machines in September 2026.
Round duct
Spiral duct suits car parks, warehouses, exposed ceilings and industrial extract. The Spiral Tubeformer SBTF-1500 or SBTF-1602 forms round duct, and the Spiral Duct Flanging Machine SBFB-1600 turns flanges on round duct ends. Kavanagh Industries in Sydney added an SBTF-1602 in October 2026.
Hospital and oil sector work
For stainless extract and heavier round duct, the stainless duct forming machine and the Automatic Stitchwelder SB-ZF1500 cover seams that a lock cannot.
Labour, space and heat
Iraq's federal minimum wage has been IQD 350,000 a month since January 2018 under Labour Law No. 37 of 2015, and wage trackers list a separate IQD 450,000 rate in the Kurdistan Region from August 2025. Skilled sheet metal workers earn more. Here the case for automation is less about wages than about output and consistency: an auto duct line makes the same panel the same way every time, which matters when a consultant inspects seams, gauges and sealing. See our labour and throughput guide.
On space, the auto duct line is the longest item, with coil racks at one end and a run-out table at the other. Leave room for coil deliveries, finished duct, truck loading and a generator if needed, and ventilate the building well. Location follows the work: Baghdad for the new cities and hospitals, Basra for the oil sector and the port, Erbil or Sulaymaniyah for the Kurdistan Region. Ask us for a layout drawing based on your building; our factory layout guide has worked examples.
Working with Taokron from Iraq
- Machines built since 1994 and supplied to 100+ countries, with 60+ patents, from an ISO 9001:2015 factory
- CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity
- Wired for your three phase 50 Hz supply
- Installation and commissioning quoted per engineer-day, with engineer travel to Baghdad, Basra or Erbil planned with you in line with current travel advice
- Replies within 12 hours by email at [email protected] or on WhatsApp at +61 435 074 994
Get an Iraq-ready Taokron quotation →
FAQ
Which ductwork standards are used in Iraq?
We found no Iraqi national standard for sheet metal duct construction. Projects designed by international and regional consultants usually specify the SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards for gauges, seams, joints, reinforcement and hangers, galvanised sheet to ASTM A653 with G60 or G90 coating, and ASHRAE references for design data. Oil and gas projects follow the operator's own engineering specification. Iraqi rules sit around that, including the Iraqi Green Architecture Code of 2019. Some consultants write DW/144 instead. Always build to the documents named in the project specification.
What voltage and frequency do duct machines need in Iraq?
Iraq runs at 50 Hz, with 230 V single phase and 400 V three phase as the usual nominal values, although some older installations are still described as 220/380 V. The COSQC conformity rules for mains-connected electrical products call for a rated voltage that includes 220, 230 or 240 V single phase or 380, 400 or 415 V three phase, and 50 Hz. Machines wired for 380 to 415 V three phase at 50 Hz suit most Iraqi workshops. Measure the voltage at your shop and tell us before we wire the machine.
What does it cost to import duct machinery into Iraq?
The main items are customs duty under Customs Tariff Law No. 22 of 2010, as revised by Cabinet Decision 957 of 2025 with rates from 0.5% to 30% depending on the tariff line, an income tax deposit reported at 3% for most non-food goods, and conformity assessment fees. Duct forming and folding machines usually fall under HS heading 8462, but the rate depends on the full tariff line, so ask your customs broker to confirm it. Machines are priced in US dollars, and on 7 October 2026 the official end-user rate moved from 1,320 to 1,520 dinars per dollar, so check the rate when you budget.
Does a duct machine need a Certificate of Conformity for Iraq?
For federal Iraq, COSQC runs a pre-shipment conformity programme through appointed bodies such as Bureau Veritas and Intertek. Regulated products need a Certificate of Conformity before shipment, and regulated consignments arriving without one can be rejected; goods outside the regulated list receive a Certificate of Inspection instead. The Kurdistan Region has its own scheme, for which Intertek is the sole certification body for regulated consignments. We could not confirm whether a duct forming machine is on either regulated list, so ask the inspection body with the HS code before the machine ships. Taokron machines are CE marked with a Declaration of Conformity and come with electrical diagrams and component lists.
Where is ductwork demand in Iraq coming from in 2026?
The main sources are hospitals, with 62 new hospitals reported complete in November 2025 and more under construction; the public buildings, schools and commercial centres of new cities such as Bismayah, Al-Jawahiri and Ali Al-Wardi; oil and gas facilities in Basra, including the Gas Growth Integrated Project at the Ratawi field; and commercial building in Baghdad, Basra, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah. Summers of around 50 degrees Celsius make air conditioning essential in all of them.
Can duct machines run on generator power in Iraq?
Yes, if the generator is sized for it. Many Iraqi businesses use private generators alongside the grid in summer. Size the generator for the starting current of the largest motors and hydraulic pumps, not just their running load, and keep voltage and frequency stable for PLC-controlled lines. A voltage stabiliser or UPS for the control circuit is worth considering. Tell us your power source and we will list the loads.
Which machines should a new Iraqi duct shop start with?
A contractor shop making rectangular duct for offices, hospitals and malls usually starts with a rectangular duct line or auto duct line, a Pittsburgh lockformer, a TDF flange former, a duct zipper for seam closing and a folder. Add a corner machine and a plasma table as fittings volume grows, and a spiral tubeformer when round duct becomes regular work. Send your duct sizes, gauges and monthly output and a Taokron engineer will propose a machine set within 12 hours.
