By Cary Sifferath, U.S. Grains Council Regional Director for the Middle East, Africa, and Europe 

The Turkish government recently announced that it would reduce the import duty for soybean meal and wheat bran from 13.5 percent to 5 percent. In addition, TMO (Turkish Grain Board) was given quotas of duty free imports of 500,000 MT of corn and 500,000 MT of barley from September 2, 2012 until May 31, 2014. Import duties on distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and corn gluten feed (CGF) were not changed as they were already at four percent duty.

In the January-June, 2012 period, Turkey was the third and eighth leading buyer of U.S. CGF and DDGS exports, respectively. The U.S. Grains Council continues to work closely with industry and government officials in Turkey to remove policy barriers and reopen Turkey as an export destination for U.S. corn. In addition, Council staff is participating in an outreach workshop in Turkey with agricultural organizations and producers this week.