July 22, 2011

Estonia sells 3,000 live cattle to Turkey in H1

Estonia is maintaining collaboration in the sale of cattle livestock with Turkey, selling almost 3,000 head of live cattle to Turkey.

"The cooperation with Turkish cattle breeders that started last year has continued and widened," Tanel Bulitko, head of a cooperative coordinating mediation of pedigree cattle to Turkey said.

When Turkey started to buy live cattle from Estonia, Estonia became the first country in the EU to whom a cooperation permission or trade certificate was issued.

"First pedigree cattle were bought and the issue is still topical and purchase interest of pedigree cattle with the aim of milk production is continuing. At the same time, a small country such as Estonia has relatively few opportunities of satisfying the wishes of such a large country," Bulitko said.

The Turks' wish to buy is high because the Turkish government gives a loan for the acquisition of pedigree cattle for the production of milk with a seven-year repayment period and without interest. The need to buy such a large amount of pedigree cattle is also due to the fact that in 2007, the price paid for milk in Turkey was extremely low for producers and as a result, nearly 800,000 milch cows were slaughtered.

Bulitko said that several Turkish companies that had bought cattle from Estonia had asked for the opportunity of purchasing animals also this year, which showed that they were satisfied with the cattle bought from Estonia. "Thanks to the opportunity of selling pedigree cattle to Turkey, the price paid to Estonian farmers for heifers in calf is one of the highest in Europe," he added.

Since the beginning of the year, the purchase of fattened cattle up to 300-kilogramme fattened bullocks for further fattening on Turkish farms has increased.

As Ramadan will begin for Muslims from August 1 and the sacrificing holiday follows it, there is increasing interest in the bullocks for slaughter and customs barriers have also been lowered for that period.

Bulitko said that it was positive for Estonian beef farmers as large numbers of live cattle ready for slaughter would be sold in the fall period. By now, the pedigree animal cooperatives have achieved trade transactions with nine different Turkish entrepreneurs who buy animals for themselves or mediate them to other buyers.

Bulitko presumed that cooperation links with Turkey would continue and would somewhat widen in the second half of the year.