POINTERS: Turkey & Middle East & North Africa - Next Growth Frontiers for Palm Oil

By: Mr. Veysel Kaya

Veysel KAYA has B.Sc. degree in Food Engineering and worked for a food company, Trakya Birlik ( one of major farmer sales cooperative unions and Sun Complex market players in Turkey ) for more than 15.5 years ( in between 1998 and 2014 ). He was undertaken there to carry out foreign correspondence, to follow worldwide Oilseeds, Vegoils, Oilmeals markets and so to launch Daily/Weekly price sheets and market reports as well as to perform importation procedures of the company. By 21st July, 2014, he resigned by his initiative and established his own company SUNSEEDMAN, as his market-known nickname. SUNSEEDMAN is a personal company, mainly engaged in reporting, analyses, consulting and brokerage of agrocommodities ( mainly Sun Complex, but also other oilseeds and vegoils ) with the longer-term market experience since 24 December 1998, ie as higher as 22 years. Veysel KAYA also became the conference speaker in - Kiev/Ukraine by 09 September 2014 with the presentation "TURKISH OILSEEDS AND VEGOILS OUTLOOK", - Barcelona/Spain by 07 October 2014 with the presentation �GLOBAL SUNFLOWER OIL MARKET. TURKISH AND NORTH AFRICAN SUNFLOWER OIL MARKETS �, - Odessa/Ukraine by 05 November 2015 with the presentation �PROSPECTS OF 2015/16 SEASON FOR THE MARKET OF SUNFLOWER SEED AND ITS BY-PRODUCTS IN TURKEY AND MIDDLE EAST �. - Rotterdam/Holland by 02 June 2016 with the presentation �CURRENT TRENDS OF GLOBAL SUNOIL AND MEAL MARKETS & 2016/2017 NEW-SEASON PROSPECTS �. - Varna/Bulgaria by 27 Oct 2016 with the presentation �REVIEW OF OILSEED MARKETS IN BLACK SEA REGION �. - Odessa/Ukraine by 11 July 2017 with the presentation �SUNFLOWER OIL PRICES: TRENDS, FORECAST, FACTORS TO WATCH REGIONAL AND GLOBAL TRENDS �. - Kishinev/Moldova by 18 October 2017 with the presentation �BLACK SEA SUNSEED MARKETS & 2017/2018 NEW-SEASON PROSPECTS �. - Sanliurfa/Turkey by 24 December 2017 with the presentation �TURKISH AGRICULTURE AND PROSPECTS AS PER GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE �. - Dubai/BAE by 17 July 2018 with the presentation �IMPORT-EXPORT RELATIONS AND BASIC RULES OF WHEAT TRADE IN TURKEY �. - Varna/Bulgaria by 01 Nov 2018 with the presentation �GLOBAL AND REGIONAL NEW-CROP OUTLOOK FOR OILSEEDS �. - Adana/Turkey by 19 June 2019 with the presentation �2018/19 SEASON REVIEW AND 2019/20 SEASON PROSPECTS FOR TURKISH AND GLOBAL OILSEEDS �. - Istanbul/Turkey by 20 September 2019 with the presentation �GLOBAL MARKET OF OILSEEDSAND VEGETABLE OILS: TRENDS & PROSPECTS OF 2019/20 SEASON � http://www.sunseedman.com veyselkaya@sunseedman.com SKYPE : SUNSEEDMAN GSM : 00 90 542 273 50 63 Linkedin : http://www.linkedin.com/in/SUNSEEDMAN Twitter : http://www.twitter.com/SUNSEEDMAN

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Having at least 5.000 years background, Palm Oil has been obtained from Palm Oil plant of Elaeis guineensis.

In the current 2019/2020 season, being the most produced vegetable oil, Palm Oil has around 75 Millions Ton of the output by implying 35% of global vegetable oils output of around 210 Million Ton. Accordingly, Palm Oil is also the most traded vegetable oil with 52 Millions Ton of 90 Millions Ton of global trade, as 58% share.

In our presentation, I will be rather focused on Palm Oil, but let me also remind Palm Kernel Oil output of about 8 Millions Ton and the trade of about 3.5 Millions Ton.

Since the global Palm Oil output has been mainly revolved around 2 giants of Indonesia, 44 Millions Ton, and Malaysia, 18.5 Millions Ton, as both 83% share, Turkey, Middle East and North Africa has almost nil output being out of +/- 100 latitudes of Equator as Palmoil zone.

Therefore, Turkey, Middle East and North Africa are amids the main destination of Palmoil exports following the leader importers of India as 9 Millions Ton, European Union as 7 Millions Ton and China as 6.5 Millions Ton.

Turkey has around 625 – 650 Thousands Ton of Palm Oil import and Malaysia is the main import origin having import-duty advantage of 21.8% rate currently vis-a-vis 31.2% of others as per bilateral agreements.

Egypt is also the leader Palmoil importer of Middle East and North Africa/MENA with around 1 Million Ton.

As per COVID-19 outbreak and havoc, so the lockdowns as well, Palm Oil consumption is partly reduced since the buyers rather prefer soft vegetable oils for home use.

Nevertheless, MENA consumers are rather price elastic buyers and so Palm Oil/other vegetable oils price ratio shouldn’t be ruled out as well.

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Questions & Answers (3) :

Metin Yurdagul

4 years ago

Dear Veysel, Congratulations for this nice presentation. If you allow me I would like to make a small correction concerning ''Margarine '' terminology in international area. In Turkey we call all these products as margarine.But margarine definition is actually just for household and some bakery products. In Turkey,margarine is just roughly 150k tons out of 800k production. Big portion of imported palm oils are used for products going to HORECA / B2B markets, while seed oils are also needed for household margarine.

VEYSEL KAYA:
Dear Mr. Metin YURDAGUL, the market/margarine doyen of Turkey, It's really honor for me to get such compliments from the market/margarine doyen of Turkey. As you also underlined, in Turkey, we call all as margarine, but your elaboration of Palmoil usage in HORECA/B2B products is really well appreciated to depict the actual Turkish outlook. With my great thanks and regards, Veysel KAYA
4 years ago

Ryo Furukawa

4 years ago

Mr Veysel, Thank you for the market insights on Turkey and MENA region. What is your opinion on Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine market? Can you elaborate on the opportunities for these market for palm oil? Potentially from Turkey?

VEYSEL KAYA:
It was just pleasure for me to be at your disposal. Refer to Palmoil opportunities for Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine; indeed Iraq imports around 175 kmt of Palmoil and there are some investments to hike it. Lebanon also imports around 25 kmt. No specific figure for Palestine, some possible via Israel and Lebanon etc. However, Turkey has significant Margarine exports to Iraq of 65 - 70 kmt seasonally and so these exports limits Iraqi Palmoil imports. Turkey also exports 1-2 kmt of Margarine to Lebanon and Palestine. Meanwhile, the political and economic instability in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine also restrain foreign trade including Palmoil ones.
4 years ago

Amy

4 years ago

1. You promoted that Turkey offers opportunity for palm oil trade. But the exports has been controlled by 1 supplier. Can you advise on how to penetrate the market? Is there specific area or segments of the market which we can get some volume to export to Turkey? 2. Is there prospects for animal fats raw materials e.g. palm kernel cake in Turkey/Middle East and North Africa? If I am prospecting outlet for PKC which countries in this region I should target? How about the market for oleochemicals? Is it big in this region? Which country offers good prospect for oleochemical products?

VEYSEL KAYA:
1- Indeed, Turkey is amids major global Palm Oil export destinations with higher local margarine consumption and exports. Especially, Malaysian origin has the priorities with import-duty advantage, 21.8% vs 31.2% of other origins including Indonesia, as per bilateral agreements in btw Turkey and Malaysia. Admittedly, Pacific Inter-Link SDN BHD is the main supplier with stronger local agency and good business relationships with local buyers since a longer time. Sometimes, there are also some shipments of LDC etc. Honestly, to penetrate the market in bulk is really so difficult. Maybe only some partial sizes from Ukrainian/Russian Palmoil vessels as well as some containers with smaller sizes. Turkey imports all kinds of Palmoil fractions including RBD Palmoil, RBD Palmolein, RBD Palm Stearin and RBD Palm Kernel Oil etc. Ah before I forget, for re-exports under Inward Processing Regime to be exported as Margarine, there's no import-duty and so Indonesian Palmoil may also run for such imports. - Of course, Turkey imports Palm Meal with HS Code of 230660000000. In 2019 calendar year, Turkey officially imported 273 kmt of Palm Meal mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia. In 4 months of 2020 also, officially, 54 kmt as well being mainly from Malaysia. Refer to MENA, Saudi Arabia also imports around 350 - 400 kmt seasonally, so you can seek the opportunities for both Turkey and Saudi Arabia mainly. Turkey has so big oleochemical sector and shouldn't be ruled out in your future plans.
4 years ago