Municipal direct sale points in Istanbul on Tuesday started offering grains and legumes, such as rice, chickpeas and lentils, in addition to vegetables at affordable prices. The first day, 17.88 tons of rice, 9.8 tons of chickpeas and 5.9 tons of lentils were sold at 54 municipal direct sale points that opened in 34 districts in Istanbul on Feb. 11, according to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB).

Eight types of vegetables were initially sold at affordable prices at direct sale points, established with the support of the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, as part of the Treasury and Finance Ministry all-out battle against inflation campaign.

The price per kilogram of rice, chickpeas and green lentils delivered directly to customers by the Turkish Grain Board (TMO), was TL 6, TL 5.5 and TL 4.5, respectively.

The İBB statement also said that apples being sold at direct sale points as of yesterday will go for TL 3 per kilogram.

Local municipalities in Istanbul and Ankara launched the direct sale points to counter soaring consumer foodstuff prices, offering agricultural products to average consumers at affordable prices. This practice was later initiated in other provinces.

The sale points, launched to circumvent middlemen and profiteers, have seen widespread demand from citizens and are likely to spread across Turkey. With the start of vegetable sales at municipal direct sale points, prices in wholesale vegetable markets and supermarket chains dropped by half.

Furthermore, the state-run postal service, the Turkish Post and Telegraph Organization (PTT), has begun selling vegetables on their online marketplace platform www.epttavm.com.