Sugar Beet Pre-Harvest Base Price Expectations Rise

September 15, 2026 · Tarım Dünyası

With the harvest season just days away, sugar beet producers are demanding a base price of 4,000 Turkish Lira per ton, while sector representatives are calling for fundamental solutions against rising financing costs and pressure from artificial sweeteners.

Organized by Kayseri Şeker, PanFest 2026 was held outdoors from September 1-3 under the main theme 'Strategic Product in the Age of Climate Change: Sugar'. Instead of traditional indoor fairing like the German model, the event, held on the factory's grounds, featured live demonstrations of seed, fertilizer, and pesticide trials in plots. Producers had the opportunity to examine product development and the performance of planting and harvesting machinery on-site. The event, broadcast live in collaboration with Agro TV, reached a wide audience with the current status and technological innovations in sugar beet farming.

With the sugar beet harvest season just days away, producers are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the base price. Although Law No. 7584, published in the Official Gazette on June 20, 2026, stipulates that beet and sugar prices will be determined in the free market by sector dynamics, producers want the price to be announced by the public authority. Due to rising input costs, agricultural irrigation expenses, and costs for seeds, fertilizers, diesel, and labor, farmers' expectation for the sugar beet purchase price this season is 4,000 Turkish Lira per ton.

In Turkey, sugar beet purchase prices have seen a gradual increase in recent years, parallel to agricultural input inflation. The base purchase price for beets was set at 336 Turkish Lira per ton in 2020, rising to 420 Lira in 2021. Prices were applied as 1400 Lira in 2022, 1750 Lira in 2023, and 2,375 Lira in 2024. The base price, which reached 3,100 Turkish Lira per ton in 2025 with the inclusion of a quota premium, is being demanded by producers to be updated in the face of current production costs.

Sugar producers demand real pricing that covers farmer costs and enables factories to continue their operations. The pressure on retail prices to control food inflation is pushing facilities into an economic deadlock. According to Turkish Statistical Institute data, sugar prices increased by 1.91% monthly and only 14.82% annually in August. The fact that annual general consumer inflation was measured at 31.51% during the same period clearly shows that the price increase in sugar is lagging behind inflation.

The decrease in the young population in agricultural production and the rise in the average age are among the primary threats to the sector's future. Oğuzhan Ulu, Deputy General Manager of Kayseri Şeker (R&D), made the following assessment on the matter:

Drawing attention to the strategic nature of sugar beet and market imbalances, Hüseyin Akay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kayseri Sugar Beet Producers Cooperative, summarized the sector's structure with the following words:

Starch-based sugars and high-intensity chemical sweeteners, which are uncontrollably present in the market, pose a serious risk of market loss for beet sugar producers. The preference for cheaper synthetic derivatives instead of beet sugar in industrial production due to insufficient consumer awareness leads to stock accumulation in factory warehouses. This stock pressure and unfair competition disrupt the cash flow of sugar factories, making financial support to farmers difficult.

Hüseyin Akay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kayseri Sugar Beet Producers Cooperative, emphasized that the economic resilience of factories is a prerequisite for supporting farmers, stating:

Factories that provide interest-free cash and in-kind advances to producers for seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, electricity, irrigation, and hoeing are crushed under the burden of bank loan costs. Hüseyin Akay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kayseri Sugar Beet Producers Cooperative, expressed the extent of the financing burden:

Hüseyin Akay, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kayseri Sugar Beet Producers Cooperative, made the following assessment regarding the pressure exerted by the public's pricing power on private and cooperative factories:

To preserve the sugar beet production chain, it is essential to announce a base price that covers the farmer's costs and to alleviate the credit interest burden on factories. It is necessary to regulate artificial sweeteners that narrow the beet sugar market, increase consumer awareness, and ensure fair access to public support for cooperative factories. If technological investments that will ensure rejuvenation in agricultural production are not supported, Turkey's 100-year-old domestic sugar production heritage will face a serious contraction risk.

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