Turkey’s Frozen Lamb meat Exports The government, which aims to reduce the dependency on imports and increase the presence of domestic animals with Turkey’s National Animal Husbandry Policy for Frozen Lamb Exports, is preparing for carcass meat imports to prevent the increase in red meat prices.
The situation in livestock, especially in red meat, is really dire. On the one hand, the government aims to reduce foreign dependency by increasing the presence of domestic animals with the National Agricultural Policy. On the other hand, it imports fattening and butchery animals so that the price of red meat does not increase.
Preparations continue for the import of carcass meat, which has not been made for two years. According to the information we have obtained, the Meat and Dairy Authority continues its preparations for a total of 50 thousand tons of carcass meat import, which includes the import of 19 thousand tons of carcass meat, within the framework of the concessions made to the European Union. It is envisaged that a significant part of this meat will be made from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Is there a need to import carcass meat?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary to analyze the situation of the market well. The latest situation in the market is as follows:
1- According to Faruk Celik, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, and ministry officials, there is a sufficient number of slaughter animals in the market. Therefore, there is no deficit that will cause a price increase. If there are enough animals, the price should not increase. But someone is raising the price to pave the way for imports. It is not the manufacturer that raises the price. But the producer is affected by this increase.
2- When the price of red meat increases, the producer is put into expectation that “I will wait a few more days and I will cut my animal at a high price”. There are enough animals, but when there is not enough slaughter, the price goes up. The producer keeps his animal waiting. It feeds it while it waits. If the cost of feed is higher than the price increase, the producer inadvertently makes a loss.
3- There are other movements in the market to make imports mandatory. Since the Meat and Dairy Institution sells minced meat and cubed meat for almost half the price of the market, long queues form in its stores. The institution sells ground beef for 28 liras for 75 kurus, and a kilo of ground beef for 31 liras. That’s why there are long queues. Seeing these queues, he argues that “there is not enough meat, imports should be made”.
4- Since the meat sales price of the Meat and Dairy Institution is cheaper than the market, consumers flock to a small number of stores. When the Meat and Dairy Authority cannot meet this demand, it restricts itself. It limited the sale of meat to the consumer to 1 kilogram for each product. The consumer can buy a maximum of 1 kg of ground beef and 1 kg of cubed meat. The rhetoric that meat sales will be rationed soon is spreading.
5- Fattening beef import continues. The Meat and Dairy Authority makes the import with zero customs. Customs duty is 10 percent for the private sector. However, when an application is made to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock to import, the private sector cannot import because the ministry did not assign an election committee. According to a breeder we spoke with, the Meat and Dairy Authority, which was supposed to deliver 120 fattening calves in March, has not yet delivered the money, even though it paid for it. There are many breeders who cannot afford animals.
6- The widespread consumption of pork plays an important role in the stability of meat prices in Europe. In Turkey, this balance is tried to be achieved with ovine meat, especially lamb. But in this period, the price of lamb meat is also very high. Due to the high rate of lamb deaths, the price of lamb knives, whose weight is 20-25 liras, is 35 liras in this period. There is a high probability that the price will go up to 40 liras.
7- The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, Meat and Dairy Authority, which closely monitors the market, plans to import livestock for butchery as a short-term measure, in addition to importing livestock. If this was not enough, preparations were made for carcass meat import. If the price rises during or after Ramadan, carcass meat imports will come into play.
8- Carcass meat was last imported in 2015. As far as we know, there was no import of carcass meat during Faruk Celik’s ministry. Looking at the figures, a total of 18 thousand tons of carcass meat was imported in the 2014-2015 period. Half of this was made from the European Union as frozen carcasses.
