Turkey: Opportunists are increasing flour prices

In the May harvest last year, Turkish Grain Board (TMO) announced the kilogram price of red and hard bread wheat as 1.65 TL, and in May of this year as 2.25 TL. At the aforementioned prices, a 50 kg bag of flour was put up for sale for 120 TL in May 2020 and 160 TL in May 2021. However, the strategically important product increased by 200 percent on average between May 2021 and November, reaching 4 liras and 60 cents per kilogram. While this extreme increase in flour prices forced the bakers to make a raise, sector representatives who spoke to Ömer Gören from Dünya Newspaper stated that bread wheat production was around 13 million tons in 2021 and that TMO imported around 2 million tons of flour still in stocks. However, he thinks that prices have been increased by speculation. Sector representatives also claim that businesses that stock flour increase prices by selling among themselves. There is no cheap wheat left to import. Claiming that there is a group speculating on wheat ...