Onion prices in Turkey are sending heads spinning. Both consumers and vendors are negatively affected by the price rise, which sees the price of the product increased to 3 lira a kilo but could go up to 4 lira a kilo. Just under 2 weeks ago onions were priced between 0.80-0.90 lira at the wholesale halls, this has now increased to 1.50 to 1.70: back in September the price was 0.40-0.45. Onion dealers attributed the increase in prices to the scarcity of the products.
In Bilecik, midwest Turkey, onions are sold for 3 lira at the markets, but there are complaints that the product cannot be found. Market vendor Kadir Demirbas states that only one sack of onions was for sale at the market in Bilecik’s Hurriyet neighbourhood. “We used to bring 4-5 sacks of onions to the market. Now we have one sack to sell. The biggest factor contributing to the increase in prices is the lack of the product. There is little product left in producers’ hands and in the storage depos, so the price will continue to rise until the new product arrives. We expect that the prices will drop in around two weeks.”
