Food prices

The price of international food commodities registered their largest monthly drop in seven years in August, the U.N. food agency said on Sept. 10, a slide likely to further hurt the struggling farming sector.

Meat prices in Turkey have been steadily increasing in recent years due to supply problems and merchants' speculative sales moves, according to sector representatives. 

Inflation in Turkey dropped sharply in June with decreasing food prices, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜ?K) stated on July 3, but analysts doubt that a further decline is in store. 

The Consumer Price Index dropped 0.51 percent in June from May, bringing the annual inflation rate to 7.20 percent in June from 8.09 percent in May.

Food prices are 20 percent higher than the global average in Turkey due to speculative price-hiking, said ?emsi Kopuz, the head of the Food and Beverages Associations Federation of Turkey (TGDF), adding the country should use imports if it wants to reach its year-end food inflation target of 9 percent. 

Global food prices in May fell to their lowest since September 2009 with declines in cereals, dairy and meat products outweighing slight increases in oils and sugar, the United Nations' food agency said on June 4.

As record-high food prices and the ongoing influx of Syrian refugees have become outstanding political issues before the upcoming elections in Turkey, United Nations? Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General José Graziano da Silva has warned that escalating conflicts in the neighborhood have threatened food security in the entire Middle East.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereal, oilseed, dairy, meat and sugar, averaged 171 points in April, 1.2 percent below its reading in March.

High global production, a strong U.S. dollar and cheaper crude oil have helped cap food prices for the past year and the index has been declining since April 2014.

The food prices in Russia have risen significantly, reports the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily, quoting data of the Russian Statistics Service.

Inflation is also rising - the data as of the beginning of December shows that the annual inflation has reached 9.4%.