Cheap food doesn’t hit the counter until costs come down

Despite average inflation, which began to decline with the base effect, food inflation continues to rise to 102.55 percent, at triple-digit levels, due to rising costs and production problems. Pointing to the costs of price hikes that have reached historic levels on grocery staples and are being controlled with label inspections, the manufacturer draws attention to the fact that cheap food will not make it to the counter unless the cost decreases in fields such as fertilizers and pesticides. Antakya Chamber of Agriculture Chairman Mehmet Muzaffer Okay said: “No one should expect food prices to be cheap as long as they continue. There’s no such thing. Food prices will not go down without a major decrease in costs,” he said.

HIGH RISK OF DROUGHT

Noting that Turkey carries out an import-based policy in agriculture, and the ban on importing 20 products puts farmers in a difficult situation, Okay said planting processes were also postponed due to drought. Agreed, “when we look at the last few years, there is no normal rainfall this year. Turkey’s best year for wheat is 22 million tons. It’s hard to predict 2023 right now. If it rains, the gap closes here,” he said.

Counted in production, prices went up

According to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, the production amount of plant products is estimated to be about 31.7 million tons in 2022 without any change compared to the previous year. While an increase of 2.8 percent in cucumbers, 33.3 percent in carrots and 19 percent in white cabbage, which is one of the important products of the vegetable group, decreased by 0.7 percent in tomatoes , 1.5 percent in watermelon and 6 percent in dried. onions, it was estimated. Looking at the inflation data from TUIK, the monthly increase for food in November 2022 was 5.75 percent and the annual increase was 102.55 percent.

Inflation in the field is reflected on the label

Remzi Baki Suiçmez, president of the Chamber of Agronomists, drew attention to the fact that the latest announced agricultural input price index exceeded 134 percent. Suiçmez continued as follows: “In other words, inflation in the field affects the label in the market, no matter what product you buy. In each period, one product is declared guilty: a potato, an onion, a cucumber. The solution is to reduce the costs of inputs and allow the consumer to reach cheap products. Drought also has an effect on yield decline. It still maintains its influence in southeastern Anatolia, central Anatolia, Aegean and Thrace.”