Lamb meat surprise from Turkstat to Nabati

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati’s statement on April 3, which provoked reactions, read: “Lamb is cheap but not preferred because of its smell. A surprise came from TÜİK after the statement “This must also be changed”.

According to TUIK, the champion of the price rise in April was the lamb, whose price increased an average of 21.47 percent compared to the previous month.

With an average monthly price increase of 13.34 percent, beef ranked second on the list of bullish champions in April.

Intercity passenger road transport also ranked third on the list with a price increase of 12.5 percent in April.

Potatoes and some root vegetables ranked fourth, up 11.73 percent, while poultry ranked fifth on the list, up 9.97 percent.

Sheepmeat is not among the 143 main items for which Turkstat provides index results. The main titles include lamb, veal and poultry.

WHAT DID NEBATI SAY?

Speaking live on April 3, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s breakfast dinner of “beef steak with mushroom sauce and mushroom sauce” to AKP and MHP deputies, Nebati said: “Lamb meat it is cheap but not preferred for its smell. This also needs to be changed,” he said. Nabati’s words caused reactions.

In his speech at Mersin on April 15, Nabati continued his explanation of the lamb and included the following statements:

I said: “Let’s eat lamb on the last television, someone says that lamb cannot be eaten because of its smell. Lamb is fatty, it’s good. The lamb gives strength. It gives the best flavor to this city and to the country with its mutton fat and its milk”.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PRICES DURING THE PLANT PERIOD?

In big cities, lamb is not sold directly under the lamb name. There are two types of meat in butcher shops and markets, one is beef and the other is lamb.

Nebati, who persistently recommended lamb, was appointed Minister of Finance on December 2, 2021. At that time, a kilo of beef cost 92 lira, and a kilo of lamb cost 113 lira. According to TZOB data, at the end of March 2023, the price of beef is 255 lira and the price of lamb is 266 lira. It is observed that the price of meat has increased 2.5 times during the 16 month period during which Nabati worked.