Press release…
The total exports of the cereals, pulses, oilseeds and products sector, which includes basic food products such as biscuits, wheat flour, vegetable oils, sugary and cocoa products and pasta, were announced as 8.7 billion dollars at the end of the third quarter. While wheat flour exports decreased by 8.2 percent on quantity basis, the decrease in value basis was 14.4 percent for this product with the effect of the decline in unit prices. Despite the decline in wheat flour, thanks to the increase in exports of shelf products such as pasta, sweet biscuits and wafers, the sector’s export decline remained at 1.6 percent compared to the previous year. The highest increase in export unit prices was in sweet biscuits, wafers and red lentils. Iraq maintained its first place among the largest markets, while double-digit growth was achieved in Syria, Algeria and Saudi Arabia.

Ahmet Tiryakioğlu, Chairman of Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TIM) Cereals, Pulses, Oil Seeds and Products Sector Board, pointed out that the decline in wheat flour exports due to the temporary restrictions on Türkiye’s wheat imports led to a 16.8 percent decrease in the sector’s monthly exports in September:
“The ban on wheat imports imposed in June was aimed at preventing price declines in the face of an increase in supply during the harvest period and protecting wheat producers by ensuring that exports are met from domestic production. With the withdrawal of Türkiye, one of the world’s largest wheat buyers, from the global market and the current global oversupply, wheat prices have seen a remarkable decline. In an environment where our exporters of milling products, especially wheat flour, see these price declines as an opportunity, we think it is a proper step to pave the way for wheat imports, albeit with a quota system. We hope that the raw material to be supplied with quota as of 15 October will eliminate the decline in exports of our sector, which has become evident in the last 3 months. In September, our sectoral exports decreased to 966 million dollars, but we believe that we will repeat our past performance of at least 1 billion dollars per month in the last quarter.”

“Maize production is concentrated in high-yielding regions”
Expressing that the importance of the producers’ orientation towards maize, which has recently surged in price, in terms of closing the supply deficit in this product, Tiryakioğlu said, “With the priority of protecting the quantity and quality of resources in the national water policy, we see that there has been a tendency towards maize production recently, although there is no difference payment support for grain maize producers who do not use drip irrigation in water-constrained agricultural basins. A large portion of the maize produced is used in the feed industry and maize also provides a wide range of uses, especially starch and starch-based sugars. In addition, the importance of maize has recently increased even more with its use in energy fields such as biofuels.”
“According to the Presidential Decree on agricultural subsidies, our Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry will make support payments to grain maize producers in areas irrigated with drip irrigation. We hope that the expansion of support and irrigation areas, the rise in cultivation areas and the concentration of maize production in high-yielding regions will close the way for the supply deficit to be met by imports,” Tiryakioğlu added…