According to the 2018 National Cereal Harvest Evaluation Report published by the National Cereal Council, the wheat cultivation area in Turkey is shrunk by ten percent compared to the previous year. The harvest expectation for the period 2017-18 is around 20-20.5 million tons. The National Cereal Council (UHK) released its 2018 National Cereal Harvest Evaluation Report. The report predicted that the wheat plantation area is expected to reduce by 8-10 percent compared to the previous year, mostly in the Central Anatolia for the 2017-18 plantation periods. The report, released after signed by Özkan Taşpınar, CEO of UHK, said that the low prices during 2017 harvest period and better pricing of alternative products (cotton, corn, sun flower, etc.) particularly at irrigated plantation areas in 2017 resulted in reduced cultivation area. The report provided average rainfall data during the cultivation season. According to this, the cumulative rainfall between 1 October 2017 and 30 April 2018 was lower than the average rainfall of long years but 23.4 percent higher than the previous year. The report provided the following points: “By taking into consideration of the fact that the Central Anatolia took 33 percent of Turkey’s cereal production, the Southeast Anatolia Region 18 percent, the Marmara Region 13 percent and the Mediterranean Region 13 percent, it is predicted that Turkey’s overall production of wheat in 2018 harvest period will be 20-20.5 million tons with the effect of reduced cultivation area by 5-10 percent while the barley harvest will be around 7.5-8 million tons meaning 5-10 percent increase because of barley plantation in irrigated areas and increase of barley plantation.”