March 19, 2007

Turkey grain board buys 235,000 tonnes corn and 15,000 tonnes wheat

Turkish state grain board TMO has purchased 235,000 tonnes of corn and 15,000 tonnes of wheat in an import tender closed Thursday (Mar 15), the official TMO website showed Friday, IHA news agency reported.

TMO purchased 110,000 tonnes of Argentine corn from Glencore at US$163-US$164/tonne on a free-on-board basis; 60,000 tonnes of Bulgarian or Romanian corn from Grains & Fourrages at US$217-US$219/tonne, on a cost-and-freight basis; 40,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn from Nidera at US$223-US$226.50/tonne, CNF and 25,000 tonnes of Bulgarian or Hungarian corn from Toepfer at US$229.79/tonne CNF.

It also purchased 10,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Grains & Fourrages at US$217/tonne CNF and 5,000 tonnes of Russian wheat from Dreyfus at US$222.27/tonne CNF.

Analysts expect Turkey to import huge amounts of grain this year if the drought fears become a reality after poor rain and snowfall this winter.