Turkey may return to the barley market as an exporter

Amid the active harvesting of the new crop, Turkey is reducing barley imports – according to the USDA forecast, in the 2026/27 MY purchases may fall by 90%, to 150 thousand tons.

Turkey may soon resume barley exports amid the active harvesting of the new crop and a decrease in domestic prices. This is reported by analysts at ASAP Agri.

In the province of Konya – one of the key grain-producing regions of the country – after the start of the harvest, traders have already reduced purchase prices. According to Salih Karagöz, a broker at Atria Brokers, the cost of barley on the domestic market has dropped to about 9 thousand Turkish liras per ton, or approximately $193/t.

According to the USDA forecast, the total supply of barley in Turkey in 2026/27 MY may reach 9.4 million tons compared to 9.1 million tons in 2024/25 MY, when the country exported a record 1.15 million tons. However, analysts consider it unlikely that the record will be repeated.

“The main buyers of Turkish barley in 2024/25 MY were the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, in 2026, many of them expect larger domestic harvests, in particular Iran, Iraq, Morocco and Syria,” said Kristina Serebryakova, CEO of ASAP Agri and broker of Atria Brokers.

Recall that until recently, Turkey was one of the largest buyers of Ukrainian barley. However, due to its own high harvest, it is sharply reducing imports – according to USDA estimates, in the 2026/27 MY it may decrease by 90%, to 150 thousand tons.

The beginning of the harvest in Turkey has increased pressure on Ukrainian barley prices, which were already falling due to weak demand. As of June 23, demand prices for Ukrainian feed barley were within 8.9–10.3 thousand UAH/t CPT, and in ports – $195–208/t CPT-port.

Also, as USM wrote the day before, Ukrainian farmers faced a critical shortage of personnel and uncertainty about booking.