Food products sold ‘at a loss’
OPEN-air markets are selling fruit and vegetables “at a loss”, the North Cyprus Open-Air Marketers Union president Yenal Garabli said.
He claimed that market prices have decreased “considerably” at many stalls, giving the following examples: “Cucumbers are 10TL per kilo, three kilos of onions are 12TL, local tomatoes are 13TL per kilo, three bundles of greens are 10TL, local bananas are 13TL per kilo, oranges are 3 to 5TL per kilo, grapefruits are 2.5TL per kilo, 30 eggs are 35TL, hellim is 50TL per kilo, fresh cheese is 15TL per kilo, filo is 9-10TL per pack and cheddar cheese is 50TL per kilo.”
Stating that “if you look at the market prices of the products I gave as an example, it will be clear what kind of sacrifice the open-air market traders have made”, Mr Garabli noted that consumers “who have become afraid to go to the supermarket” can shop “thanks to the openair markets”.
Explaining that after a meeting with Prime Minister and National Unity Party (UBP) leader Faiz Sucuoğlu they “took a sectoral stance” and started to sell food items at either the price they paid for them or “at a loss”, Mr Garabli said: “Let’s take a loss for a few months, as long as the citizens do not drift away from the open-air markets, the market stabilises and wholesalers start to set prices according to this situation.”
Arguing that the TRNC has become a society that “makes fun of everyone and criticises everything”, Mr Garabli said that people who criticised Dr Sucuoğlu for saying last week that the prices of some goods had fallen by “more than 50 per cent” and that there had been “no change in prices”, do “not even go to the open-air markets”. He continued: “We are not going to force anyone to believe anything. The price tags at the market places prove what we said, prices have gone down . . . some people who say that prices have not actually decreased and who feed off the chaos do not even remember the last time they went to an openair market.” Pointing out that due to the “free market” economic conditions it is “impossible for them to inspect all the stalls one by one”, Mr Garabli added that people should not shop until they “go around to all the stalls”. Meanwhile Republican Turkish Party MP Salahi Şahiner has accused Dr Sucuoğlu of “deceiving
the public” with his food price decrease comments.
Writing on social media, Mr Şahiner said: “There is not a single explanation or any oversight regarding imported products, but when it comes to our farmers’ domestic products, you are deceiving the public by meeting with the OpenAir Marketers Union and issuing a statement that many market products are cheaper by more than 50 per cent and you didn’t hesitate to share this on the Prime Ministry’s social media account.
“The reason why prices are high today is that you have not left any producers around. . . The high prices in the market are not due to domestic production but because of import-based production. Can you show the same concern
about imported agricultural input materials?
“If you want the market to be cheaper, you should take measures to support and increase production, implement measures to reduce input costs and encourage our farmers to return to production.
“Do you plan on ensuring market stability and increasing the people’s purchasing power by begging and pleading for it?
“Trying to cheapen the market with an understanding that is devoid of the seriousness of the state and by asking the relevant non-governmental organisations to try and cheapen the market has nothing to do with any kind of economic policy. At this rate, the last remaining domestic producers will become history because of you.”