Turkey has extended its zero import duty on sunflower seeds into the upcoming 2021-22 marketing year and will maintain reduced rates for sunflower oil arrivals.
The import duty on sunflower seeds will remain at zero beyond 30 June, instead of increasing to 27pc from 1 July as initially planned, according to a presidential decree. The decree has not specified an end date to the exemption.
And the import levy on sunflower oil will remain at 10pc after 30 June, instead of rising to the original rate of 36pc.
The move comes as Turkey tries to deal with a steep rise in the cost of imported goods, because of higher prices on the global market and the lira's depreciation against the dollar, which has increased local food and feed prices. Domestic prices for sunflower oil — the most consumed vegetable oil in Turkey — rose by 40pc on the year in 2020, data from Turkish statistical institute Tuik show.
Turkey is the world's biggest importer of sunflower seeds — used to meet the needs of the large domestic crushing industry, which has estimated capacity of 9mn t/yr. Turkish sunflower oil production is expected by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to edge down to 1mn t in the 2020-21 agricultural year from 1.14mn t in 2019-20.
Turkey's sunflower oil output is forecast to rise to 1.13mn t in 2021-22, tracking higher domestic consumption, according to USDA estimates. But its imports are expected to be unchanged on the year at 850,000t.
But sunflower seed imports are expected to reach 1.2mn t next year, up from 1mn t this year, as higher demand is expected to offset stronger domestic output.
Turkey's sunflower oil imports totalled 335,000t in January-April, with Russia supplying the largest share at 290,000t, Tuik data show. This was up from total intake of 241,100t over the same period a year earlier.
Sunflower seed receipts rose to 558,000t in January-April from 445,000t a year earlier. France was the largest supplier with 209,000t.
