Turkey is to resume imports of weanling bulls this autumn.

The Turkish government is expected to grant licences, from August, for the import of up to 100,000 young cattle from EU member states including Ireland. It has now removed the 10% customs tax on cattle imported by private operators.

Licences will be granted for one supplier country and will have to be used to buy cattle from that country. Turkish importers will have to pay for licences to ensure they are utilised.

Buyers are now actively enquiring about supply of cattle from Ireland. Irish exporters state that they will need to get €4/kg liveweight from Turkish buyers to ship cattle there.

A report from the US Department of Agriculture also says that there is now a shortage of finishing cattle in Turkey and that it will have to import higher numbers of weanlings and other young feeder cattle in 2020.

Irish exporters state that they will need to get €4/kg liveweight from Turkish buyers to ship cattle there

The Turkish government reduced imports of feeder cattle by half in 2019 to 689,076 head because Turkish cattle farmers could not compete with imported cattle prices on the domestic market.

Feed is the major cost, accounting for almost 60% of total production costs. At current beef prices, Turkish finishers cannot break even over production costs. The average carcase weight of their animals is in the range of 270kg to 300kg.

The majority of cattle imports to Turkey come from Brazil and Uruguay.

Red meat consumption is expected to remain at 15kg per capita in Turkey in 2020 due to continuing food inflation, high red meat prices and weak consumer purchasing power.