Miller Magazine Issue: 138 June 2021

69 COVER STORY MILLER / june 2021 6 percent. In the report, which pointed out that the world economy contracted by 3.3 percent last year, it was stat- ed that the global economic growth forecast has been increased from 5.5 percent to 6 percent for this year and it has been revised from 4.2 percent to 4.4 percent for 2022. When we look at the situation of wheat in Turkey and the world, it seems that even though there is no problem in production, the intense demands that will arise will de- termine the price policy and thus, price pressure will oc- cur in the market. Due to the pandemic, many exporting companies are experiencing container shortages, high freight prices, and logistics problems on top of restric- tions, quotas, and high taxation. In recent days, the in- crease in prices of products such as soybeans, sunflow- er seeds, and particularly corn, causes more demand for products such as wheat. Merely corn price has increased by 10 dollars within a few days and reached 280 dollars/ ton. The price of barley and bran has seen substantial increases such as $225 and $ 200 respectively. While prices are increasing, one of the main reasons making the season unpredictable is climate change. The drought experienced in Turkey this year will ad- versely affect the wheat harvest. However, the heavy rains experienced on a regional basis in recent days have severely damaged the wheat fields in many places. It will be seen more clearly in the season how the lack of precipitation in Brazil and the very dry weather and the very cold weather in the USA will affect the production. When we look at Turkey, precipitation was 337.5 mm between October 2020 and April 2021 while it normally should have been 441.9 mm. The last year's rainfall which was recorded as 414.3 mm was 24% lower than normal and 19% lower than the previous year. Thus, precipitation across the country was lower than both normal and last year. Wheat and barley production is also expected to decline due to the dry weather. Şemsi Bayraktar, Chair-