CHP Edirne Deputy Assoc. Dr. Okan Gaytancıoğlu said at the press conference he held in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey that the sunflower producer could not sell the product in his hands even for 10 liras. Assoc. Dr. Gaytancıoğlu warned the government that this would cause a new crisis in vegetable oil.
“AKP POSTED ITS HOPE ON IMPORTS AND STILL RESETTING CUSTOMS TAXES”
Emphasizing that the government’s vegetable oil policy consists of zeroing out the customs taxes, he will not call it a policy, CHP Edirne Deputy Assoc. Dr. Instead, Gaytancıoğlu stated that they will implement policies that support the producer and protect the consumer under the CHP government.
CHP Edirne Deputy Assoc. Dr. Okan Gaytancıoğlu continued his press conference with the following words: “The AKP has pinned its hopes on imports and keeps resetting its customs duties. Both the treasury suffers a loss of income, the producer suffers, and this import does not benefit the consumer. It only works for a handful of importers. While the producer sold sunflowers for 16-17 liras in March-April last year, today he cannot sell them for 10 liras. So, has the price of sunflower oil decreased on the market shelves? No, it has not decreased.
In this case, the producer will refrain from planting sunflowers next year. Turkey gives the most money to vegetable oil imports after energy. Although our producer produced a record level last year, it did not receive a reward for it. According to the news from the Çukurova Region, where the first plantings have begun, the farmers, who cannot get their money’s worth, avoid planting sunflowers. There is a decrease in production areas. In this case, sunflower yield will decrease next year. The government trusts Ukraine’s Russia’s sunflowers, but there is war there. There are serious problems in production in Ukraine, especially due to power cuts. Instead of relying on the farmers of Ukraine and Russia, we need to support our own farmers.
We urgently want the support premium to be removed from 50 cents to 3 liras. It is not wise to reset the customs taxes while our producer is making a loss. We are already giving our warning for the vegetable oil crisis.”
