Introduction of quotas on sunflower seeds and oil imports to Turkey leads to market instability: prices are increasing.

Considering the introduction of quotas on the import of sunflower seeds and sunflower oil and the reduction of duties, the import of these goods to Turkey may be postponed until the beginning of January, unlike last year when active trading took place in September-December.

"Companies can choose to use the quota for importing either sunflower seeds or crude oil. The choice depends on the yield in the Black Sea region, demand for refined vegetable oil, prices of sunflower seeds and meal, as well as current and future prices of crude vegetable oils," noted Bülent Özsoy, a broker at Atria Brokers.

According to him, prices in the domestic market have already started to rise. In the first two days after the announcement of the quotas, sunflower prices increased by 30-60 dollars per ton, and prices of crude sunflower oil rose by 25 dollars per ton.

"However, it is still too early to talk about a stable trend due to the current market instability," added Bülent Özsoy.

It is worth reminding that on August 7, 2024, Turkey introduced restrictions on the import of 1 million tons of sunflower or the equivalent of 400 thousand tons of crude sunflower oil and reduced duties from 27% to 8% on sunflower seeds and from 36% to 20% on sunflower oil. However, quotas will only be granted to companies that will purchase domestic sunflower seeds from July 1, 2024, to November 30, 2024, and will only be effective from January 1, 2025, to April 30, 2025.