LONDON (Reuters) — Britain is exporting rapeseed to Turkey for the first time with the loading of 6,000 tonnes beginning at Portbury Grain Terminal in southwest England last week, farmers co-operative Openfield said on Monday.
Openfield said Turkey has turned to Britain due to a shortage of genetically-modified-free rapeseed amongst the exporters surrounding the Baltic Sea.
Turkey has a zero tolerance policy on GMOs, one of the few countries to have stricter rules than the European Union which allows 0.1 percent.
Openfield’s head of oilseed rape John Thorpe, who handled the sale, said the weakness of sterling prior to Christmas helped to facilitate the business.
“Given the shipping fees associated with such an export, the recent improvement in the value of sterling means there are unlikely to be many more cargoes heading to Turkey again in the near future,” he said.
