İLHAN KOYUNSEVEN: PULLING FOOD INFLATION DOWN NEEDS STRUCTURAL POLICIES

Istanbul Commodity Exchange (ISTIB) Vice Chairman of the Board Ilhan Koyunseven said that food prices were falling with the effect of the season, but while rejoicing, the importance of planned progress in agriculture should not be forgotten, besides not daily, yet long-term effects of structural measures should be taken into consideration...

Speaking at the Istanbul Commodity Exchange's July assembly meeting, Koyunseven said that structural measures should be taken, not everyday, for the balance of food prices.

Koyunseven stated that the inflation figures in June came down as a result of the decrease in the pressure of food inflation in the summer months and said:

"We are constantly stressing the impact of food inflation on general inflation. We have experienced this once again. I would like to draw attention to this point only; fruit and vegetable prices have fallen. Producers whose profitability has decreased or even suffered, will review the sowing decisions for the coming year. If the sowing decreases, we may be faced with high prices again. structural measures that will have long-term effects are essential. "

I think incentives will contribute to the prevention of food waste...

İlhan Koyunseven explained that the Eleventh Development Plan, which was presented to the Turkish Grand National Assembly in recent days, contains important steps in terms of structural measures and that important decisions have been taken on agriculture and targets have been determined.

Koyunseven pointed out that there is also information about the promotion of the modernization of transport vehicles intended to prevent casualties occurring during the transportation with the cold store chains, "I think these incentives will also contribute to the prevention of food waste" he said.

Koyunseven also noted the importance of supporting the greenhouse and modern irrigation systems in order to balance the high price increases in the fresh fruit and vegetable market and made the following evaluations:

"In order to reduce the costs in the food distribution chain, the use of better organized intermediaries in production will be supported and a structure that will reduce logistics costs will be tried. In addition, specialized plant and animal product exchanges will be established, thus depth in the market will be established as well. We also support efforts to combat a deep market and food inflation. We believe that it will help prevent price fluctuations after the launch of the Specialized Exchange. It is also clear that the Specialized Products Exchange will enable the manufacturer to see the way forward and find the value of its product."