EKİM ZEYNEP YAĞMUR

Ankara- Almost every food products such as tomatoes, fruits, meats, and butter are sold more expensive than last year. The effects of the increase in food prices have been seen in markets and supermarkets. The prices of many basic consumer products have increased by 15 percent to 200 percent within a year.

The recent rise in minimum wages for 2021 is one-third of the poverty line while the poverty line is above 8.000 Turkish Lira. The ruling party went its own way and determined the minimum wages the bosses demanded.

The results of the research conducted by KAMUAR (R&D unit of United Public-Business Confederation of Labor Unions) show how people try to survive. According to the research, the expenses for food products increased by 4, 2 percent in January. The annual food prices increased by 27.4 percent (compared to January 2019). The increase in food prices compared to the 12-month average prices are calculated as 42.3 percent.

The research reveals the dimension of the real inflation faced by people having monthly income and the poor people spending much of their income on food products and having no protection against inflation.

Families in Turkey spend their money to buy rice, bread, wheat, wheat flour, pasta, and vermicelli. Their expenses for meat and fish make up 22.4 percent of the expenses of food.  The expenses for milk, cheese, butter, and other dairy products and eggs in the expenses for food products are 13.4 percent.

An extraordinary increase in milk and dairy products’ prices

In January, the prices of bread, flour, bulgur, rice and pasta increased by 5.5 percent compared to the previous month due to the increase in bread prices, while the prices of meat and fish increased by 2.3 percent.

In January, the prices of milk and dairy products and eggs increased by 8.4 percent due to the extraordinary increase in milk, yogurt and butter prices, and the prices of refined vegetable oil, which were very high in the previous months, didn’t change.

In January, the fruit prices increased by 0.3 percent, vegetable prices increased by 3 percent compared to the previous month. The prices of processed food products such as tomato paste, olives, honey, tea, salt, and other products increased by 0.9 percent.

Thus, the total amount of the expenses of food products based on the 77 most consumed food products increased by 3.6 percent in January compared to in December.

“Prices of oil increased by 47.5 percent”

In January, the prices of bread, flour, bulgur, pasta increased by 23.4 percent, the prices of meat and fish increased by 19.1 percent, the prices of milk and dairy products and eggs increased by 21.4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. The prices of oil increased by 47.5 percent compared to last year. The prices of fruits increased by 35.1 percent and the prices of vegetables increased by 51.6 percent compared to last year.