Turkey corn import duty cut pressure grows as food inflation bites

Turkey may revisit a plan to cut or remove import duties on corn as expectations grow among the domestic grain industry on the back of rampant food inflation, market sources told Agricensus Monday.

“This is still on the cards,” one market source said of the potential cut or removal of import duties, citing three main reasons for the mounting expectations.

“Russian sellers have stopped offering May positions, most Turkish buyers have stopped buying for April and there’s plenty of corn in Turkish bonded warehouses,” the source continued.

“Most market participants are almost sure about this. Some were even confidently expecting it last Friday,” the source said.

A fall in the value of the Turkish lira on international currency markets made imports more expensive, with the country’s inflation rate surging as a result.

Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation is proving particularly divisive, with March seeing the rate increase for the third consecutive month, according to the country’s Turkish Statistical Institute.

At 10.37%, food prices are increasing at their fastest rate since December and are 0.1 percentage point up on February, with discomfort at the price rises now reaching the upper levels of government, according to local media sources.

“One thing is for sure, the food inflation is the big issue here with economists publicly noting food prices have doubled in the first quarter,” the source said.

Earlier in March, Turkey cancelled a buy tender for 149,000 mt of corn as offered prices were deemed too high.