soybean
Soybeans also competing for space with wheat, corn, cotton and peanuts.
 
WASHINGTON, D.C., U.S. — Adverse weather conditions have affected field yield in Turkey, prompting a reduction in soybean production forecasts to 100,000 tonnes for the 2016-17 marketing year, according to a Nov. 18 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS).

In addition to weather, the FAS said soybean area is competing with wheat, corn, cotton and peanuts, the latter of which has generated attractive returns that have made it a viable alternative to soybean planting in the region.

The government of Turkey recently announced a new regional crop support program that may improve conditions for soybean planting, but details of the program have not been released, the FAS said. In recent years, the government of Turkey has encouraged the increase of oilseeds planting by paying out higher production bonus payments.

Consumption of soybeans was forecast at 2.2 million tonnes in 2016-17, down from 2.350 million tonnes in 2015-16, according to the FAS.

“In MY 2015, the Turkish poultry industry faced difficulties in exports due to security problems in the border areas of major export markets such as Iraq and Syria, along with political disputes,” the FAS said. “Presently the industry is showing great efforts to find new routes to the main export markets and also searching for new export markets. Recent devaluation of Turkish Lira against the major currencies, more than 10% during the last three months, had been met with mixed reactions by the industry — on one hand it lowers the export price and makes Turkish products attractive, but on the other hand it greatly increases the cost of imported raw materials for production, where majority of production is used for domestic market.

“The industry is carefully observing the swing and waiting for exchange rates to settle before committing to an export price. Increase in usage of alternative low-priced feed items such as DDGS in the rations also reduces soybean and products usage. Due to the above issues, domestic consumption of soybean expected to go down to 2.2 million tonnes in MY 2016.”

Turkey exported a record 118,000 tonnes of soybeans in 2015-16, with the United States leading the way with 97,000 tonnes, the FAS said. In 2016-17, though, exports are expected to ease back down to 50,000 tonnes, the FAS noted.

Imports, meanwhile, are forecast at 2.15 million tonnes, down from 2.28 million tonnes in 2015-16 and compared with 2.197 million tonnes in 2014-15.