Page 25 - TURKRptDec21

4.2 Inflation
On November 1, state-owned pipeline company Botas hiked the price of natural gas used by power plants by 47% and the price of gas used by industry by 48%. Since the beginning of 2021, price hikes reached 150%. Natural gas prices for consumers will also be sharply hiked while the impact of natural gas price hikes for industry and power plants will also be felt in consumer prices.
Even TUIK’s coal price rose to Turkish lira (TRY) 2,159 per tonne in October from TRY1,255 in August.
Gasoline, diesel and LPG prices are regularly hiked.
Gubretas (GUBRF), or Gubre Fabrikalari, withdrew its offer submitted in a fertilizer purchase tender held on September 15 by Turkey’s agriculture ministry, citing booming prices along with supply problems.
Since June, Turkey has held consecutive tenders for imports of wheat and barley and prices have boomed, increasing with each tender. The average price of barley reached a new high of $356 per tonne in the last tender held on November 23, up 50% from the $237 seen in the tender held in July. The Turkish lira-denominated price increase is somewhat more eye-popping.
“It’s impossible for bakeries to sell bread with the same prices as before because 50 kilos of flour was 200 liras last week, but this week it’s 380 liras due to the new exchange rates,” Cihan Kolivar, chairman of the Bread Producers Employers Union in Turkey, told Al-Monitor.
25 TURKEY Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com