Food Inflation Will Not Decline Without Input Costs Falling
· Dünya Gazetesi
At the İzmir Commodity Exchange council meeting, it was emphasized that the increase in agricultural input costs is pressuring producers and that the dependence on imports for feed raw materials is increasing sectoral risks.
Input Costs and Inflationary Pressure
Speaking at the İzmir Commodity Exchange's August council meeting, Chairman of the Board Işınsu Kestelli stated that the pressure of rising agricultural input costs on producers continues unabated. Reminding that the year-end inflation forecast was raised to 28% and the food inflation expectation to 28.5% within the scope of the updated Medium-Term Program, Kestelli argued that a stable cost structure must be established for essential inputs such as fertilizer, diesel, feed, and energy. Emphasizing the importance of producers and agricultural industrialists accessing low-cost financing, Kestelli requested that support be announced before planting decisions.
Risk of Dependence on Imports in the Feed Sector
Speaking at the meeting, İTB Council Chairman Ömer Gökhan Tuncer noted that the livestock and feed sectors are significantly dependent on foreign markets for corn and soybeans. Stating that approximately 3.5 million tons of Turkey's annual corn requirement exceeding 11 million tons are met through imports, Tuncer pointed out that almost all of the soybean consumption is sourced externally. İzmir Commodity Exchange Council Chairman Ömer Gökhan Tuncer, who conveyed that fluctuations in global markets increase costs, issued the following warning:
"We must show sensitivity to price movements that are not due to market conditions and lack economic basis."