Turkey Restricts Lentil Exports

VANCOUVER - Jul 5/08 - SNS -- The Turkish government will restrict lentil exports in 2008-09, slashed import duties from 19.3% to 5%, and appointed the TMO to handle lentil imports.

The restrictions on exports do not constitute the outright ban reported in markets at week's end. Instead, the country's Official Gazette states that lentil exports are only allowed with prior permission from the Undersecretariat for Foreign Trade.

Government officials were quoted in the Turkish publication, Today's Zaman, as saying domestic red lentil consumption sits at around an estimated 340,000 metric tons (MT), but this year's harvest is unlikely to exceed 280,000 MT on account of the severe drought in Turkey's pulse production region.

Meanwhile, the TMO has been asked to purchases 15,000 MT of red lentils from Canada, with more purchases expected after new crop supplies become available in August.

Today's Zaman reports consumers paid YTL 1 per kilogram for red lentils last year; YTL 2.3 at the start of 2008; and up to YTL 5 per kilogram in June.