Turkish durum not expected to be as disruptive this year

Durum markets are waiting with bated breath to see how big of a crop Türkiye produces. The Turkish Flour Industrialists Federation is forecasting 20 million tonnes of total wheat production, down two million tonnes from last year. That total includes durum, but there is no breakdown by class. Rossella Polito, an Italian durum farmer who posts as @spiga_dorata on the X social media platform, said it is too early to forecast Türkiye’s crop size. “Until harvest is finished in the key area of Central Anatolia, where weather conditions were far from optimal, and other smaller durum wheat producing areas, I would use great caution in forecasting Türkiye’s total durum wheat crop,” she said in a recent post. Türkiye upended durum markets this crop year by exporting 1.5 million tonnes between June 2023 and January 2024. That blindsided the market because the country typically doesn’t export any durum. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting 4.4 million tonnes of Turkish durum ...