Duty-free for now
Aug 02, 2017
ANKARA, TURKEY -- On July 29, 2017, a new Ministry's decree was published in the Official Turkish Gazette here allowing the Turkish Grain Board (TMO) to implement a tariff-rate quota (TRQ) to import 100,000 MT of rice at zero duty. The regular import duty on milled rice is 45 percent.
TMO also will implement TRQs for the import of 750,000 tons of wheat and 700,000 tons of corn, also with zero duty.
This is not the first time TMO has been granted such a quota. In 2014, the Cabinet of Ministers issued a decision allowing the TMO to import up to 200,000 MT of rice at zero customs duty based on a sharp increase in domestic rice prices in April 2014. The next month, TMO started to sell Indian and U.S. rice in small packages at the retail level.
The domestic rice industry raised concerns at that time about TMO interference in the rice market, which allegedly resulted in the importation and sale of rice in the retail market at prices that were more than 25 percent below the regular market price. Despite these concerns, TMO announced another tender in November, 2014, and bought 30,000 MT of U.S. paddy rice, along with 10,000 MT of Russian paddy rice as well as some paddy rice from Portugal.
This week, TMO announced in major newspapers that the new decree is a preventive measure that will be used in order to curb an increase in rice prices at the retail level.
It is unknown at this time whether TMO will use the quota in full or in part. The Turkish trade believes that TMO will be careful not to import any rice during the domestic rice harvest in Turkey.