November 28, 2005

USDA issues US$500 million in export credits to Turkey

The USDA said Friday it has made available US$500 million in credit guarantees for sales of US agricultural commodities to Turkey.

The commodities are covered under the Commodity Credit Corporation's (CCC) Export Credit Guarantee Program (GSM-102) for fiscal year 2006. The breakdown of the list includes US$220 million for cotton, US$130 million for soybeans and soymeal and US$150 million for other commodities approved in the GSM list. The other category excludes cotton, soybeans and soymeal, fresh and frozen red meats, poultry, processed red meat and poultry products.

Exporters may apply for credit guarantees on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications will be accepted beginning at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) on Monday.

The GSM-102 programme helps ensure that credit is available to finance commercial exports of US agricultural products to developing countries, while providing competitive credit terms in these countries. Under this programme, the CCC reduces the financial risk to lenders by guaranteeing payments due from approved foreign banks to exporters or financial institutions in the US.