Hüseyin GÖKÇE –ANKARA
■ The Shelf Price Guarantee system, which was put into operation to ensure that public sugar reaches consumers at low prices, has become a source of income in some provinces. According to the sources informing the WORLD, as soon as cheap sugar reaches the market, news Groups who take it, consume a limited amount of sugar in as little as 15 minutes.
■ That’s why those who need sugar have to consume more expensive sugar when there is no cheap sugar. It is stated that those who collect sugar cheaply fill them in sacks and sell them in 50 kg sacks to small manufacturers and industrialists who use sugar as raw material.
In order to prevent the excessive increase in sugar prices, the policy of lowering the price through imports allowed the price to stabilize, albeit partially. A bag of sugar, whose price was up to 1250 liras, fell below 1000 liras. In fact, the cost of manufacturers and exporters who obtained import rights decreased to 700 liras. However, the consumer still has difficulty in accessing cheap sugar.
The sources informing the WORLD noted that the sugar, which the public gives to the markets on condition that it is sold at a cheap price, is collected by some segments on a weight basis, put in sacks and sold to manufacturers again. It is stated that manufacturers that import more than their capacity also put some of the sugar on the domestic market.
The Shelf Price Guarantee system, which was put into operation in January 2022 in order to reach the consumers at a cheap price, has become a source of income in some provinces. In the Shelf Price Guaranteed system, Türkşeker delivers sugar to chain stores at cheap prices. However, it is not possible for consumers to reach this cheap sugar.
The claim that imported sugar is sold to the market
According to the sources informing the WORLD, groups that receive the news as soon as cheap sugar reaches the market consume a limited amount of sugar in as little as 15 minutes. That’s why those who need sugar have to consume more expensive sugar when there is no cheap sugar.
It is stated that those who collect sugar cheaply fill them in sacks and sell them in 50 kg sacks to small manufacturers, who use sugar as raw materials, to industrialists. On the other hand, the price of sugar, whose bag was up to 1250 liras before Ramadan, decreased a little with the export right to import. According to the current exchange rate, a bag of imported sugar costs 700 liras. Türkşeker also sells to industrialists around 750 liras. However, industrialists are given a limited amount of sugar.
The right to import was given to manufacturers and exporters at certain rates according to their capacities. However, it is noted that some of them, who received more than their capacity, also exported the sugar they imported to the domestic market at a more affordable price. Sources emphasize that these developments partially prevented the rise in the market price of sugar.
Relief is expected when the new season product is released
The sources stated that the intervention of the public in the sugar market did not affect the behavior of the private sector factories much and that they gave products to the market when they wanted, and noted that a partial relief could be experienced with the release of the new season product in up to 1 month.
The sources, who predicted that announcing a higher beet price compared to the previous years, would increase the yield, emphasized that it is not possible for the sugar price to fall below a certain level, but to return to its previous level.
Import decision was taken on May 27
With the President’s Decision published in the Official Gazette on May 27, a tariff quota was opened for the duty-free import of 400 thousand tons of sugar. With the communiqué published in the same newspaper, the distribution principles of the tariff quota were also determined.
The tariff quota opened in sugar imports was distributed to industrial companies that use this product as a raw material in the production of confectionery products, with priority being given to companies holding C sugar allocation certificate. The applications, which started on May 27, the date of publication of the Communiqué, ended on Monday, June 6th. Imported sugar has been entering the Turkish market for about a month.