February 4, 2011
Turkey acquires rights to use GM soy in feeds
The Turkish Animal Feed Producers' Union (Türkiyem-BÃr), has announced that it has acquired the Biosafety Commission's permission to use three types of genetically modified soy in animal feed.
Union Chairman, Ülkü Karakus, said the body asked to use the three types of GM soy allowed in the US and EU. The permission was announced in the Turkish media on Wednesday (Feb 2).
Karakus said that the committee also determined the terms of the imports, adding they were preparing to present a crisis action plan to the Agriculture Ministry within a week, after which the ministry is expected to allow the import of the GM crops.
The crisis action plan will determine measures to be taken for transportation of the GM crops in sea vessels, storage, and transportation to factories and packaging.
Turkey imports around 4.5 million tonnes of animal feed raw materials, 2.1 million tonnes of which were soy and soy products.
Due to the recent issuing of a Biosafety Law the import of GM soy products was banned in Turkey.
Karakus said producers suffered from a soy shortage in the domestic market due to this law. "Those with soy stock radically increased the prices and the raw material's price climbed from US$500 to US$700," he said.
