In Turkey, the pound continues to fall, farmers toast
Since the start of 2021, the Turkish lira has plummeted 45%.
© AP - Burhan Ozbilici
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
In a few hours this Tuesday, November 23, the Turkish currency lost 15% of its value against the dollar, bringing its fall to 45% since the beginning of 2021.
Advertising
Read more
With our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer
.
In recent days,
the Turkish lira has depreciated so quickly
against the dollar that companies that resell imported products are struggling to set their prices. Or they store their goods in the hope of selling them for a higher price later.
Example with chemical fertilizers and pesticides, whose sales are, in fact, almost suspended.
For farmers, who have already experienced a 28% increase in the price of their inputs over one year, this is very bad news.
“
All of our inputs - fertilizers, pesticides or fuel - are imported,”
explains Murat Kapikiran, president of the Istanbul Chamber of Agricultural Engineers.
When the price of the pound falls, the price of these products increases.
What are the farmers doing?
Well, for example, many have sown without using fertilizer.
So their productivity will drop.
"
"In-store prices five times more expensive"
Murat Kapikiran is categorical: the prices of agricultural products that Turks buy every day will continue to increase, but it is not the farmers who benefit, on the contrary.
"
With the decline in productivity, which is also due to droughts, farmers are struggling to cover their production costs,"
continues the president of the Chamber of Agricultural Engineers in Istanbul.
But the intermediaries who buy from the producers set the margins they want, because they are hardly controlled!
This is why in the stores, the prices are five times more expensive than those to which the producers sell.
"
Between October 2020 and October 2021, food prices officially increased by 20% in Turkey.
►
To read also: The Turkish lira tumbles, the Istanbul Stock Exchange in turmoil
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Turkey
Currencies
Recep Tayyip Erdogan