Turkey cuts customs tax in livestock, some agricultural products in bid to ease food prices

ANKARA

The government has cut customs taxes in meat and in a number of grains that have a direct or indirect impact on the prices of red meat, white meat, bread and egg, including wheat and corn, in a bid to ease rising food prices.

Inflation remained near an 8.5-year high last month, hitting 11.72 percent according to the latest data, mainly due to gradual increases in food prices, despite a slight regression in recent weeks. 

According to an annex to Turkey’s imports regime, published in the Official Gazette on June 27, the government slashed the customs duty for livestock imports to 26 percent and for carcass meat imports to 40 percent. 

It also zeroed customs duties for certain types of wheat and barley imports from Bosnia Herzegovina, while cutting customs duties for such imports from the EU-EFTA countries, South Korea, and others to around 40-45 percent. Customs duties for corn imports were also decreased from 130 percent to 25 percent. 

In a statement on June 27, the Economy Ministry said these cuts would help to ease food prices in the domestic market. 

Turkey’s Food Committee held a series of meetings in May in order to develop feasible measures to prevent an ongoing hike in food prices.

According to the results of the technical works, these measures will aim to restrict certain key inflationary risks resulting from fluctuations in unprocessed food prices, with officials hopeful that they will push the inflation rate back down to single-digits. 

The Economy Ministry said the latest customs duty cuts were made in line with this framework, adding that further cuts may be possible in the upcoming period.