Turkey: Not Meating Demand in Turkey
Turkish Meat and Milk Board (ESK) has been again granted the permission to import beef from the EU and Bosnia Herzegovina due to continuously rising prices for years. The measures taken by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MinFAL) such as the subsidies given to the producers, live cattle and carcass meat import, fixed price ceiling on the markets have not been able to decrease the meat prices in Turkey, which are a serious public concern and a focus of the new government. According to the sector, which is in coordination with MinFAL, Turkey needs 1.3 million MT of red meat annually to meet demand and there is a shortage of approximately 300,000 MT. Despite steadily rising production, beef prices surged 25 percent in 2015. Also despite the government’s focus on the impact of high meat prices in Turkey on the public, it is unclear if they will actually use this authorization and import any more meat.
