Imported Turkish wheat flour is P150 to P180 cheaper than the locally milled flour and is becoming popular among bread and noodle makers in the country, thus is posing a big threat to the local flour millers, who are importing more expensive wheat from the US.

This was the assessment of Ernesto Chua Co Kiong, executive vice president for Malabon Longlife Trading Corp., why the Turkish wheat flour is under attack during a hastily called press conference last Friday where the Turkish Embassy in Manila, Turkish wheat flour exporters and Filipino importers took turns to clarify the issue.

According to Co Kiong, Turkish soft flour is sold at P450 to P470 per 25-kilogram bag as against P620 to P650 per 25-kg of the locally milled flour.

Co Kiong said that the price difference is largely because the Turkish flour quality is, “not as good as US wheat in terms of protein content, but is just as edible and fit for human consumption as the locally milled flour, which are made from imported US wheat.”

Co Kiong, one of the bigger players in the flour industry, said that Turkish soft flour has become popular for noodle manufacturing because with the economic realities the issue of affordability has also become a major issue among consumers.

“As such, the Turkish wheat flour has become a threat to the US wheat, which produces high-protein wheat flour that is ideal for bread making,” Co Kiong said.

In fact, imports of Turkish flour grew three times in the past two years and already accounts for 5 percent of the country’s total flour imports.

Last year, Turkish flour accounted for 35 percent of its total exports to the Philippines. In that same year, Turkish wheat flour accounted for 57 percent of the Philippines total wheat flour importation.

Turkey is the world’s ninth biggest wheat producer and second largest exporter. In 2009, Turkey exported 1.8 million tons of flour to 126 countries including the Philippines, which accounts for only one percent of the Turkish total wheat flour exports.

Co Kiong noted that attacks on the health and safety issues of imported flour normally occur when the government pushes for importation of this commodity to fight against an upsurge of the local produce.

In 2007, the issue came out and in 2008 when the government has encouraged sourcing of flour from China as prices of locally-milled flour skyrocketed. But tests were done on these flour imports showed negative toxic content. This time, the government has extended the zero-duty importation of wheat to ensure stable prices of flour in the local market.

Because of the bad publicity that Turkish commodity are not safe for human consumption, Co Kiong said that some users are no longer openly declaring they are using Turkish wheat flour for fear their businesses would be affected.

Various legislators, led by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, have called for a ban against the entry of Turkish flour.

This prompted Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral to order the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to conduct product testing.