With the increase in the exchange rates in animal husbandry in 2022, the costs increased by 2 to 1, by 3 to 1, while the suppression of milk and carcass slaughter prices brought the producer to the point of bankruptcy. Many dairy and fattening farms have closed, and many have gone down in size. During this period, as milk prices did not cover feed costs, over 1 million female animals went to slaughter, and a rapid decrease was experienced in Turkey's milk production.
FEED FARMS ARE EMPTIED!
On the other hand, while there was a great crisis in livestock breeding, the crisis brought it to a point where slaughter animals could not be found in the country. While the low carcass slaughter prices despite the feed costs caused losses to the producers, this situation also caused the fattening farms to be emptied. At this point, carcass cutting prices increased rapidly last week, and the average slaughter prices, which were 100 Turkish Liras (TL), increased to 120 TL. While it was necessary, according to the cost calculation made so that the producer does not incur a loss, the cutting prices should be between 120 and 125 TL at least, the producers had lost their slaughter animals for months by cutting them for 90-100 TL. The increase in carcass slaughter prices in a period when the demand for meat is low is attributed to the lack of sufficient animals in the country.
ESK CANNOT FIND MEAT TO PUT IN STORES
The decrease in the number of slaughter animals and the increase in carcass slaughter prices brought the Meat and Dairy Institution (ESK) to the point where it could not find slaughter animals. The fact that the ESK could not find enough animals for slaughter also reduced the amount of meat sold in stores. At just such a period, it was noteworthy that the ESK started the process of importing a thousand tons of boneless meat from Bosnia and Herzegovina within the scope of the Free Trade Agreement. According to the information received, the ESK will import 1,000 tons of boneless meat from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is recorded that a team assigned for the import in question went to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
THE MINISTRY'S CONTRACTED FEEDING PROJECT DID NOT ATTRACTS ATTENTION FROM THE BREEDER!
On the other hand, It was revealed that there was not enough demand from the breeders for the contracted livestock project that the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry put forward as a great hope in animal husbandry. Within the scope of the contracted breeding project, the ESK has received applications from breeders for only 3,800 animals so far. The low demand has already caused the project to be dead.
MILK, CHEESE PRODUCTION IS DECREASING FAST
The milk and dairy products production data for October, which was announced last month by Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT), revealed the disaster in animal husbandry. While Turkey's milk production decreased by 9,6 percent in October compared to the same month of the previous year, it was noteworthy that there were serious decreases in the production of yogurt, ayran, cheese and butter.
WHAT DOES MEAT IMPORT MEAN FOR COUNTRY’S LIVESTOCK!
Boneless meat imports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in terms of quantity, do not actually make sense for Turkey. The amount of meat to be imported can only meet the meat needs of Istanbul for one day. However, it is noteworthy that these imports are made at a time when due to the fact that the crisis in animal husbandry is getting deeper and there was no meat to put it on ESK’s stores.
IMPORTED MEAT PRICES ALSO INCREASED!
While the ESK has imported only 400 tons of boneless meat from Bosnia and Herzegovina to date within the scope of the Free Trade Agreement in 2022, 400 tons of meat was imported with the price of 7 Euros. A thousand tons of boneless meat is expected to be imported at 7,2 Euros. While meat was imported from Bosnia and Herzegovina at 5,10 Euros last year, the price of imported meat increased by 2,10 Euros on a Euro basis this year.