While the farmer had a hard time due to the exorbitant hikes in fertilizer prices, his-her expectations from the government for months were in vain. President Erdoğan, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli and the Chairman of the Agricultural Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Yunus Kılıç made statements that they were working on fertilizer prices, which increased 4-5 times. These statements had created an expectation that 'a strong support will come in fertilizer’ in the farmer. However, while an increase of 3,2 billion Turkish Liras (TL) was made only in the support budget for 2022, an additional 50 TL per decare was provided to farmers producing wheat, barley, rye, oats and triticale. The additional support of 3,2 billion TL and 50 TL in the support budget was far from meeting the exorbitant prices of fertilizers and diesel. The farmer is now waiting for the prices to fall, leaving aside his expectations from the government regarding fertilizers. Fertilizer prices have decreased slightly in recent weeks compared to previous weeks. This, in turn, started to create an expectation that "prices will decrease even more" in the farmer.
THE FARMER WAS ROBBED IN FERTILIZER!
While all this is going on, the figures that emerge when the fertilizer prices in Turkey are compared with the prices in the countries where the import is made reveal how the farmer is being robbed in fertilizer.
DECEMBER FERTILIZER IMPORT NUMBERS OF TURKSTAT PUBLISHED
December foreign trade figures of Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) for fertilizer imports were also published. Accordingly, Turkey imported 200,000 tons of urea fertilizer in December. 81,000 tons of this import was made from Oman, 30,000 tons from Turkmenistan, 30,000 tons from Egypt, 26,000 tons from Iran and 20,000 tons from Azerbaijan.
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE IGNORED TURKSTAT DATA
Although the big profiteering in fertilizers confirmed by TURKSTAT data, it is significant that the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Bekir Pakdemirli, remained audience for the big profiteering here for months. On the other hand, Minister Pakdemirli's defense by saying prices in the world are higher than fertilizer prices in Turkey, drew a great reaction from the farmer.
DECEMBER PRICES DON'T MISS ANYONE
However, the prices for December should not surprise anyone. While Turkey imported 2,765,474 tons of urea fertilizer in 2021, only 198,000 tons of this was made in December. In other words, urea fertilizer imported for an average of 850 dollars is not even one-tenth of the total imported urea fertilizer. Prices for imports made before December were between 400 dollars and 600 dollars on average. Urea fertilizer, which was imported between 400 and 600 dollars, was sold at an average of 1,000 to 1,100 dollars in Turkey. While the price of urea fertilizer has decreased to 10,000 TL liras in some companies recently, it also reveals the great profiteering made here.
IMPORT PRICE OF UREA FERTILIZER INCREASED 200 DOLLARS IN DECEMBER
Urea fertilizer imports from Oman, the country with the highest amount of urea fertilizer import, amounted to 600 dollars on average in November, and increased to 800 dollars in December. Along with other countries in December, the average price of imported urea was 850 dollars.