March 15, 2006

Turkey to see good harvest in grain 2006, USDA says
 

Turkey is expected to have a good year in grain production, provided that conditions remain favourable until the harvest, said the USDA in its Foreign Agricultural Service report released Mar 10.

Rains in April and May are the most significant factors determining the yields in Turkey, with resulting Turkish grain production in MY2006 projected to be higher than average and about 5 percent higher than the last year's production level.

Even though the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) was supposed to reduce its intervention in the local grain markets, it actually procured larger quantities of grains in MY2005 compared with the previous year. This was due to higher production and low market prices, the USDA said. 

The TMO procured a total of about 5.7 million tonnes of grains, including about 4.2 million tonnes of wheat and about 660,000 tonnes of corn, and paid about YTL1.76 billion. In MY2004, TMO procured 1.9 million tonnes of wheat, 500,000 tonnes of corn, among other grains, and paid a total of YTL820 million. 

Corn production has increased significantly in Turkey in recent years. As a result, imports have decreased and Turkey has begun to export corn for the first time. Corn consumption is estimated to remain rather stable even though it was decreased in the use for poultry production, due to the bird flu outbreak in the country. 

The increased corn consumption was primarily due to increased direct usage for feed on farm, or for mix and in commercial feed production, the USDA said. Large quantities of corn were also used to replace lower qualities of feed wheat in the feed ingredients. 

Turkey is not expected to import or export significant quantities of corn in MY2006, due to the projections that production will be reduced due to low market prices in MY2005. However, consumption will increase as the poultry industry recovers from the country's bird flu outbreaks, the most recent one just occurring beginning of this year.

In order to protect local farmers, Turkey is using high import duties, seasonal bans, and quota systems to limit grain imports, and will not issue any import licences for wheat and barley.

In the past, exporters would be able to import wheat with zero duty against their export receipts. There are also seasonal bans on imports of pulses, with licences to import pulses distributed shortly before the New Year to protect local producers. 

For the full USDA report, click here.