Turkey, self-sufficient in wheat production, will not be negatively affected by the wheat crisis, English Daily News reported Friday.
English Daily News quoted agricultural authorities as saying that Turkey's wheat production will amount to 19 million tons this year while the annual national requirement is below 18 million, Xinhua reported.
Ozkan Taspinar, head of the Konya Branch of the Agricultural Engineers' Chamber, said that there are 2 million tons of wheat stocks remaining from last year's harvest, so it does not seem that Turkey will have any difficulty in meeting its wheat requirements this year.
Turkey is among the world's top-10 wheat-producing countries and will not need to import wheat in 2010, Taspinar said.
Fahri Ozer, head of the Istanbul Bakers' Association, agreed with the assessment that Turkey would remain self-sufficient and even exports wheat at certain times of the year.
Turkish authorities will not increase the price of bread because of the Russian export cap, or for any other reason, in the near future, Ozer said.
However, Ozer added that they also recognized that necessary precautions need to be taken to ensure that no destabilizing speculation entered the Turkish wheat market.
Ozer further noted that since the Russian export limit was announced, there has been a noticeable increase in wheat prices because of speculative trading.
With catastrophic fires destroying a quarter of its annual wheat harvest, Russia's limitations on grain exports have caused some to worry in importing nations, including Turkey.
Some international authorities say this will put many wheat- importing countries in difficult situations in the long run, if not immediately, while export rivals like France, Germany, the United States, Canada and Australia will largely benefit from the Russian export limit.