As usual, there are some price fluctuations in some agricultural products however none of these fluctuations were as sharp and visible as with the potato and onion prices in Turkey during the month of June. The price of potatoes at the wholesale hall has risen up from 0.25 – 0.40 USD per kg in May to 0.6 – 0.85 USD per kg in June. This represented a 94 % price increase in potatoes. The price for potatoes was between 0.30 USD and 0.5 USD last year in June so the change compared to the previous year is also around 75%. With this increase at the wholesale, potato prices at retail has risen up as high as 1.5 USD per kg.
There are a few reasons behind the increase of the potato prices. In 2017, 4.8 million tons of potatoes were grown in Turkey. About 5% of this production is exported. But Georgia stopped Turkish potato exports as of March 2018 which caused a lot of potatoes to be left in storage facilities to rot and be thrown away. Around 400,000 tons of potatoes were discarded in the spring months for this reason. Additionally increasing petroleum prices and other production costs are increasing the costs of the growers which is reflected on the prices.
There are also some rumors that prices are partially inflated due to wholesalers hoarding products before the religious holidays to drive up the prices.
Onions are in a similar position. The price of onions was around 0.25 USD - 0.4 USD per kg at the wholesaler during May which skyrocketed in June to 0.75 – 1.25 USD per kg in June. The price increase becomes even more dramatic when the comparison is made with last year’s June prices when onions were sold at 0.15 USD – 0.25 USD per kg. This means that the price of onion went up 400 % within a year. The prices at the wholesaler level is also reflected at retail where onions are now being sold for 1.7 USD per kg.
Looking at the production numbers across the years, the price increase appears to be unrelated to a shortage of supply. According to the figures from Turkish Statistical Institute, the production numbers have been increasing steadily over the last 3 years from 1.9 million tons in 2015 to 2.1 million tons in 2016 and 2.2 million tons in 2017 even though onion production areas have declined from 6 billion square feet to 5.7 billion square feet in total. The growers argue that the main reason behind the price increase is heavy rains and hailstorms.
However the increasing trend in potato production is expected to reverse its course this year with a 1.3 % expected decline in production numbers of all agricultural products and a 1 % decline is expected in potato production in 2018. Turkey had grown 4.8 million tons of potatoes in 2017 which was a 1 % increase compared to the previous year.
Source: Haberturk