Turkey’s TMO accepts EXW corn, declines most CFR: trade

Turkey’s state-backed grain importing agency TMO has accepted all offers on an ex works basis received at its most recent tenders, but the chairman is thought to have declined all CFR offers except for a handful of the lowest placed indications, trade sources have told Agricensus.

The agency had settled on a final line up after concluding two back-to-back tenders that invited offers on an EXW and a CFR basis, with a total line-up of 475,000 mt sent to the agency’s chairman for final approval.

However, while all 175,000 mt EXW volumes – that had been booked at an average price of $401.96/mt – were accepted by the chair, only some 100,000 mt reportedly offered by international trader Viterra was accepted on a CFR basis.

That equated to just a third of the original 300,000 mt put forward for final approval, with Viterra's indications coming in almost $12/mt below other CFR delivered offers and only marginally above the EXW levels.

Overall, the full CFR volume had averaged $421.10/mt with Viterra showing two 50,000 mt parcels at $400.87/mt into Mersin and $407.87/mt into Iskenderun.

However, with other CFR offers starting at $419.80/mt and rising as high as $433.50/mt, the chair is believed to have turned down the remaining volumes, which had been shown by companies including ADM, Ameropa and local traders like Yayla Agro, Kibar and Erser.

TMO has taken to splitting its tender buying activity in recent weeks, making a distinction between volumes booked from domestic stocks – the EXW supply – and delivered volumes, where supply has been strained by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

For more information on recent buying from Turkey, please see our Tender Dashboard.