HAMBURG, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The lowest price offered in the first round of Thursday’s tender from Turkey’s TMO state grain board to buy 345,000 tonnes of animal feed barley was believed to be $324.65 a tonne c&f, traders said in initial assessments.

No purchase has yet been reported, they said. The TMO traditionally undertakes several rounds of negotiations in tenders, seeking lower offers each round.

The lowest offer was said to have been submitted by trading house AP Grain for a consignment of at least 25,000 tonnes for shipment to the port of Bandirma.

Shipment is sought between Feb. 15 and March 10 to a series of Turkish ports.

Other offers included barley for shipment to Derince at $334.92 a tonne c&f, to Iskenderun at $332.42 a tonne c&f, to Mersin at $332.42 a tonne c&f, to Izmir at $338.70 a tonne c&f, to Tekirdag at $330.80 a tonne c&f, to Samsun at $333.65 a tonne c&f and to Trabzon at $338.00 a tonne c&f, they said.

Supplies already in warehouses in Turkey can be offered in the tender. Dealers say some exporters have made advance shipments to Turkey to escape rises in Russian grain export taxes, which are being increased in stages to conserve Russia’s domestic supplies.

The tender continues recent brisk grain import demand from Turkey to ensure good domestic supplies after the country’s crops suffered drought damage last summer.

Provisional results of the tender are expected later on Thursday.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan Editing by David Goodman )

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