Page 49 - TURKRptMay20

Following Russia’s announcement, the price of wheat rose by $15-20 per tonne and Turkey received bids of 175,000 tonnes for a 200,000-tonne auction, Yildirim noted.
Turkey imported grain from Ukraine, Reuters reported on March 30. The past few days have also seen Ankara place bans on potato, onion and lemon exports.
If required measures are not urgently taken, Turkey may face food scarcity within one to two months, Yildirim told DW Turkey on March 25.
Measures brought in to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Turkey have according to local reports triggered such a sharp drop in fruit and vegetable prices that Turkish farmers might respond by cutting output this spring​.
The coronavirus pandemic has hit exports and sales to restaurants and shops that consumers are unable or unwilling to reach amid the efforts to push down the infection rate. Cross-border supply chains have also been disrupted by moves made to address the health and economic crisis.
Turkey is among the world’s top exporters of fresh produce such as tomatoes, apricots, tangerines, eggplants and peppers. But in March, as farmers prepared for the critical April and May planting season months, fruit and vegetable prices dropped 6.6% y/y.
Tomato exports have been squeezed by import restrictions in Russia, a big market for Turkey. Farmers there want a ban to help local producers grappling with the coronavirus fallout.
Yuksel Tavsan, chairman of the Turkish Marketplace Federation, told Reuters prices have dropped across the board by some 25-30% including for peppers and eggplant due to sagging exports, with Russian quotas hitting tomatoes. “If this fall is too much, that isn’t good for producers,” he told Reuters. “The closures of hotels, restaurants and shops are also influential..., even though rising demand by households balances it somewhat. Prices have more or less fallen to our people’s buying level.”
9.1.5​ TMT sector news
Erdogan ​stepped​ back once again from a draft law that would require social media companies like Facebook or Twitter to store Turkey-based users’ data in Turkey.
Cinemas remained open for the first 19 days of March, but their revenues nosedived 54% y/y in this period to Turkish lira (TRY) 28mn (€4mn), ​according to data from boxofficeturkey.com​.
The annual value of the Turkish gaming market is reportedly expected to exceed $1bn (Turkish lira 6.9bn) by the end of 2020 with earnings boosted by stay-at-home measures, ​according to ​Daily Sabah​. The Turkish gaming market was worth around $800mn in 2019, while the global gaming industry has a value of approximately $138bn.
9.1.6 ​Tourism sector news
The tourism minister said on April 2 that he sees flights returning to normal by the end of June.
49​ TURKEY Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com