Turkey's state grain board TMO has issued an import tender to buy up to 190,000 tonnes of milling wheat and up to 100,000 tonnes of feed barley, European traders said on Monday, as the country faces the risk of a drought-reduced local harvest. Turkey is among those countries to have been affected by the Middle East's driest winter in several decades, which notably threatens to worsen food security in its war-torn neighbour Syria.
TMO last month opened a duty-free quota allowing for 2.5 million tonnes of wheat, one million tonnes of barley and 500,000 tonnes maize (corn) and 200,000 tonnes of rice. Licences would be valid until September 1, 2016 for rice and until May 31, 2016 for the other grains. Turkey has both exported and imported grain in the past depending on the size of its domestic harvest.
In the new tender, Turkey is seeking shipment between July 25 and August 20 for the milling wheat and between June 20 and July 22 for the feed barley, the traders said. The deadline for bids is on June 3. The origin of the grain was optional. For the milling wheat, the quality specifications called for minimum protein content of 12.5 percent and maximum moisture of 13 percent.