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Bulgur: exporters call for restrictions to be lifted

August 24, 2022 at 9:16 AM , Der AUDITOR
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GAZIANTEP. At a meeting of sector leaders, exporters pleaded for restrictions and the export quota for bulgur to be lifted. The deputy trade minister is not averse to this.

Annual fair in Istanbul

At a recent meeting in Mersin, the Turkish Cereals, Pulses, Oilseeds and Products Exporters' Associations Sector Board and Deputy Trade Minister Özgür Volkan Ağar, among others, met under the leadership of the Mediterranean Exporters' Associations to discuss the problems facing the sector. Among other things, a proposal was made to hold an international fair in Istanbul once a year, focusing on products such as bulgur, pulses and noodles.

One focus of the discussions was the future of Turkish bulgur exports. The Sector Board members explained that about 1 million mt of bulgur is produced annually in Turkey, which significantly exceeds the domestic demand. Therefore, the way should be paved for easier exports of the surplus goods; in the course of this, the participants called for the abolition of the quota imposed by the Ministry of Trade on bulgur exports. They said it was important to bring bulgur to international markets to consolidate the good reputation of the Turkish product. In their view, bulgur exports should not be subject to any restrictions. Similar demands were heard in the noodle sector. The export quota to the EU here is 20,000 mt annually, while exporters are calling for an increase to 100,000 mt.

Improvement is in sight

Özgür Volkan Ağar, Deputy Trade Minister, said that they were aware of all the problems arising from quota and restriction practices in the cereals, pulses and oilseeds sector and said that if there were no problems with bulgur supply in the domestic market, the way could be paved for increased exports. Meanwhile, growers report that harvesting of durum wheat for bulgur production is in full swing. Export prices are currently at USD 800-900/mt FOB, depending on the supplier.

In January-July 2022, Turkey exported just over 75,150 mt of bulgur from durum wheat and more than 77,460 mt of bulgur from other grains. This is significantly higher than the figure in the corresponding period last year, when 57,391 mt of durum wheat bulgur and 57,383 mt of bulgur from other cereals were shipped overseas.

Bulgur exports, Turkey

Year

mt

2018 

262,094 

2019 

262,615 

2020 

282,486 

2021 

238,139 

2022* 

152,614 

Trade sources, *Jan-Jul

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