The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) stressed that the increase in red meat prices affected inflation negatively, while Federation of Food and Drink Industry Associations of Turkey President Şemsi Kopuz said meat imports initiated by the Food, Agriculture and Livestock Ministry would not be enough to reduce prices.

The CBRT announced on Tuesday a report concerning monthly prices for June, which stressed the increasing tendency of red meat prices continued to negatively affect food prices. The ministry decided to import meat from abroad a few days ago, and the Meat and Milk Organization held two tenders to import meat, one of which is for 550 tons and the other is for 3,200 tons.

At a press conference held in Istanbul yesterday, Kopuz said: "The price of red meat increased nearly 30 percent over a year and prices keep increasing. Therefore, the ministry is trying to import meat to stabilize prices. However, this import attempt will not be enough to decrease prices, but it will just stabilize them because the amounts planned to be imported are very low even though importing is an important instrument to discipline speculators." Emphasizing that current meat prices in Turkey are twice that of the prices in EU countries, Kopuz said that while the price of a calf is above TL 1,400 ($503.82) in Turkey, it is sold in the EU at nearly 270 euros equaling TL 825. "Likewise, the price of a cattle weighing 250 kilograms is around 2.43 euros per kilogram, while it is sold at TL 15-17 per kilogram in [Turkey]. In other words, it is twice as expensive," Kopuz said, adding that the approaching Eid al-Adha (Sacrifice Festival) is a factor increasing meat prices, but it is not the only reason since the increase in prices has been continuing for one year.

Kopuz highlighted that imports can be an important instrument in preventing speculation in the short-term, but Turkey has to revise its long term agriculture and stockbreeding policy. "What should be done for this includes increasing the production of forage plants, reviewing agriculture statistics - which play the most significant role in determining stockbreeding policies - increasing the number of small cattle, determining the support amounts necessary over five-year periods and not again postponing the deadline for closing slaughterhouses that do not become modernized at the end of this year," concluded Kopuz.