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Why does Turkey’s wheat requirement increasing?

06 March 20183 min reading

"In the 2016/17 season Turkey imported 3.7 million tons of wheat. This quantity is 5% higher than the preceding season. But in the 2017/18 season total volume of wheat import is predicted to reach 4.5 million tons. Stable wheat production quantity, the rapidly growing feed industry and raising flour exports from the country contribute to Turkey’s wheat requirement."

Günhan ULUSOY

Günhan ULUSOY Chairman of the Board, Ulusoy Flour Company

Dear readers of Miller Magazine,

In the light of the available historical evidence going back 12 thousand years ago, Gobeklitepe located in the city of Sanliurda Turkey, is a well-known region where human beings had learned to thrive through agriculture and found a permanent settlement which we can trace back to the cultivation of wheat.

Thanks to wheat, which could supply the daily energy source needed and could be cultivated in any convenient field, the period of time allocated for hunting and gathering decreased. So people had more time to spend on activities such as architecture, religion and socialization. In terms of its historical importance, wheat has a special meaning for the people living in its homeland Anatolia. Therefore, Turkey’s wheat imports cause raised eyebrows among Turkish people.

However, the sector has a valid reason for the importation of wheat.

In Turkey there are some factors putting pressure on wheat production such as narrow and divided fields, rough terrains for grain harvest and other products which have a higher profit margin than wheat. However, wheat production is generally 1-2 million tons higher than wheat consumption of the country.

And the reason for seasonal wheat import between 3 and 5 million tons is a prosperous milling industry and 3.5 million tons of wheat flour export volume of this industry.

As the lead supplier of wheat flour for five years, Turkish millers do a third of total sales in the global market. Every year Turkey has been exporting wheat flour to more than 100 countries all over the world and in most of them Turkey is the main supplier of flour.

Turkey’s industrial development in this sector, while giving rise to an increase in raw material requirements, continues to attract the attention of wheat exporting countries. The advantage for the sector is the geographic proximity to the Russian Federation and the rapidly growing trade volume between these countries in recent years. Russia has achieved a record wheat production of 85 million tons last year and has doubled its wheat exports in the last three years. Russia, which has increased its production every year, now dominates the global wheat market.

The rate of Russian wheat in Turkey’s wheat importation has reached 70% level. In the 2016/17 season Turkey imported 3.7 million tons of wheat. This quantity is 5% higher than the preceding season. But in the 2017/18 season total volume of wheat import is predicted to reach 4.5 million tons. Stable wheat production quantity, the rapidly growing feed industry and raising flour exports from the country contribute to Turkey’s wheat requirement.

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