Forecast for Turkish wheat raised by US

Bloomberg

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The country is now expected to produce 16.8 million metric tons for the year through May 2009, compared with 16.5 million tons previously, the USDA said in an e-mailed report yesterday. Lower-than-expected drought damage and the use of higher quality seed are likely to have improved yields, the agency said.

"The higher forecast is a result of lower than expected drought impact in central Anatolia and some parts of southeast Anatolia," the U.S. agency said. "The Turkish government did not intervene with the price of wheat in 2008, as farmers were happy with the market price."

Turkish farmers, which produced 15.5 million tons of wheat in the 2008 marketing year, increased the use of higher quality certified seed to 300,000 tons in 2008, compared with 75,000 tons in 2002, the USDA said.

Corn production in the 12 months through August 2009 will probably amount to 4.15 million tons, compared with a previous 4 million ton forecast, the USDA said. Second corn-crop harvests in Turkey’s Çukurova region were "very low" because of damage by corn rootworm, the agency said.

"The price and premium of corn was below the expectation of farmers, so many of them say they will plant winter wheat instead or switch to soybeans and sunflowers instead of corn in the future," the USDA said. Corn production in the year through August 2008 was 2.9 million tons, according to the USDA’s figures.

Turkey’s barley harvest is expected to drop to 5.6 million tons because of drought damage in the southeastern and central Anatolia regions, the agency said. The USDA had previously expected production to remain unchanged from last year’s 6 million tons.