Turkey's weak sunflower crop could spur tariff cuts

Published Nov 10, 2023

Tridge summary

Experts have revised their estimate of the sunflower harvest in Turkey for the current agricultural season due to intense heat and drought, predicting a drop from last season's 1.86 million tons to 1.35 million tons. This decrease in production raises uncertainty about the Turkish government's plan to maintain high import tariffs on sunflower and sunflower oil. Despite the decrease in imports, Turkey has seen an increase in the export of sunflower oil, with Ethiopia being the largest customer.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

Experts from the authoritative German company Oil World lowered their estimate of the sunflower harvest in Turkey in the 2023-2024 agricultural season, which began on August 1, to 1.35 million tons, compared to 1.86 million tons harvested last season, and participants on the market indicate an even greater contraction of production - up to 1.2 million tons, reported the Kazakhstan National Association of Oilseed Producers. The sharp drop in the sunflower crop due to intense heat and drought casts doubt on whether the Turkish government will maintain the current high tariffs on sunflower and sunflower oil imports, as originally intended. High import duties and accumulated stocks of sunflower in the current season (390 thousand tons compared to 40 thousand tons at the beginning of last season) limited the import of sunflower oil in Turkey in August and September. Since the beginning of the current season, Turkey has imported only 56 thousand tons of sunflower and 203 thousand tons ...

Source: Sinor