The excessive increase in input costs, especially diesel, fertilizer and seeds, will deal a great blow to Turkey's agricultural production. The first signal of this came from the beet. The beet planting commitment data of ‘TÜRKŞEKER’ Turkey’s Sugar Factory from the farmer revealed that the farmer moved away from production due to the uncertainty in the purchase prices, especially the increasing input costs. While TÜRKŞEKER had a beet quota of 8,400,000 tons, as of yesterday, it was able to get a commitment of 6,700,000 tons of this quota. No commitment could be made against the 1,700,000 tons quota. The fact that TÜRKŞEKER, which received a commitment from farmers as much as its full quota in March last year, could not fill its quota despite the end of March this year means that the farmer moved away from beet production.
MONTHS OF APRIL AND MAY ARE IMPORTANT
Beetroot can be planted until April in Central Anatolia and until May in Eastern Anatolia Region. While the process is shrinking in beet planting, if TÜRKŞEKER does not receive a commitment from the farmer in April, 1,700,000 tons of missing quota means that approximately 240,000 tons of sugar production will decrease in the next production period.
ADVANCE PRICE OVER THE ANNOUNCED DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM
The crisis in beet cultivation also showed itself in the announced advance prices. Although President Erdoğan announced the advance price of beet in January, TÜRKŞEKER even had to increase the advance price announced by Erdoğan. Although Erdoğan announced the advance price of beet as 800 Turkish Liras (TL) in January, TÜRKŞEKER increased the advance price by 200 TL to 1000 TL last week. The reason why TÜRKŞEKER was forced to increase the advance price announced by President Erdoğan lies in its efforts to persuade the farmer who moved away from beet production. Although TÜRKŞEKER announced that it increased the beet advance price from 800 TL to 1000 TL, it was only able to get 200,000 tons of commitment. While the commitment received from the farmer was 6,500,000 tons last week, it is clear that the advance price has been increased. After the announcement, the amount of commitment received increased to 6,700,000 tons.
CHAOS IN INDUSTRY DRIVES TURKEY INTO A SUGAR CRISIS
Although sufficient sugar was produced last year, the different price policies of TÜRKŞEKER and private and cooperative factories dragged the sugar industry into a great chaos. It is also significant that the Sugar Department, which is in charge of overseeing the sector, has not taken any steps to resolve this chaos. While TÜRKŞEKER sells the sack of sugar for 295 TL, private and cooperative factories sell it for 650 to 700 TL. It is recorded that TÜRKŞEKER has approximately 350,000 tons of sugar in its stocks. TÜRKŞEKER, however, stopped selling sugar to the market. Within the scope of the market shelf agreement, sugar is given to certain markets through Türkşeker Agricultural Incorporated Company. This brings up the criticism that TÜRKŞEKER does not sell sugar to the market despite having sugar in its stocks. On the other hand, the cooperative and private sugar factories produced with beetroot bought from the farmer for 420 TL last year. The fact that the sack of sugar reaches 650 to 700 TL reveals the exorbitant and arbitrary practice here.
IF PUBLIC FACTORIES CANNOT FILL ITS QUALIT, HOW WILL PRIVATE AND COOPERATIVE FACTORIES FILL THEM?
While TÜRKŞEKER cannot fulfill its beet planting commitment, it is anticipated that this problem is even greater in private and cooperative factories. While the grievances of the farmers are more especially in the privatized factories, it is estimated that the distance from the beet cultivation is more intense in these factories due to these grievances.