Turkey has asked for bids by a June 30 deadline for the supply of 395,000 tonnes of imported red milling wheat and 320,000 tonnes of imported animal feed barley, Reuters has reported.

On June 17, Iran booked 195,000 tonnes of milling wheat at €280/tonne ($333/tonne).

In January, Turkey's grain board TMO held a tender to import 400,000 tonnes of wheat. It received offers at $302-316/tonne. However, it later said that it imported only around 100,000 tonnes at an average price of $303.

On May 24, the TMO released its grain buying prices for 2021. Accordingly, the TMO will buy red/white milling wheat at Turkish lira (TRY) 2,250/tonne ($256/tonne), up 36% y/y, and barley at TRY1,750/tonne, up 37% y/y.

On May 26, the TMO released its grain selling prices for 2021. It will sell milling wheat at TRY2,450/tonne and barley at TRY1,950/tonne.

On the domestic market, the average market price for a tonne of red wheat rose by 51% y/y to TRY2,535 ($292) on June 18 while the barley price was up 100% y/y to TRY2,606 ($300).

A market anomaly has come to the fore and Turkish stockbreeders have caught a reaction from flour makers after turning to wheat due to lower prices.

Also on June 18, the US’ average hard red winter wheat export price stood at $282, up 29% y/y.

In 2020, Turkey’ wheat imports rose to 8.58mn tonnes from 8.37mn tonnes in 2019, while the average price rose to $234/tonne from $222/tonne.

Turkey’s barley production for the 2021/22 marketing year is estimated at 6.2mn tonnes, down 23% y/y and lower by 11% compared to the previous estimate, given in May, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on June 10 in its latest World Agricultural Production report.

The USDA also cut its 2021/22 wheat production estimate for Turkey to 17mn tonnes, down from 17.25mn tonnes in May and 18.25mn tonnes in 2020/21.

In May, precipitation in Turkey was down 66% y/y. It was also recorded at 56% below the seasonal average.

In March, Turkey imported 115,000 tonnes of corn.