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In Turkey, bread rows grow farther and higher prices | Business and Economic Affairs

Istanbul, Turkey – Earlier this week in the Uskudar area of ​​Istanbul, retired Niazi Toprak sat on a bench reading a newspaper while waiting for new bread to arrive. Many other people who had followed him had lined up at the kiosk near the city’s bakery.

Istanbul Halk Ekmek, or “Public Bread”, sells baguette 250g (8.8 oz) for 1.25 Turkey liras ($ 0.09) – cheaper than nearby bakeries, with prices starting at 2.50 liras ($ 0.18).

Although the difference is measured by the cost, the savings increase for Toprak and many other Istanbul residents who stand in line at more than 1,500 in the city each day.

“Everything is expensive, from food to your bread, from your shirt to the socks you wear,” the 71-year-old Toprak told Al Jazeera.

A former truck driver and salesman who retired five years ago recently moved in with his children because of a reduced income. “My retirement security only brings in $ 800 ($ 56) a month, so it’s not enough these days to be alone,” Toprak said. “There are four of us in the house, and our rent is 2,000 dollars ($ 140 a month). Each of us eats at least one loaf of bread a day, so I plan to purchase four loaves of bread from here. You should save any money you can today. ”

The Turkish lira has lost about 48 percent of its value compared to the US dollar this year, facing a major crisis. any damage in November.

In the same month, Turkey’s annual inflation threat has changed to + 21.3% weekly, according to government statistics. But government critics are even skeptical of the same census, highlighting what appears to be a sharp rise in food, rent and energy prices.

Istanbul Municipality, now led by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, has released its statistics which show that the cost of living in the city has risen by more than 50 percent annually. According to the Istanbul Statistics Office, wheat prices have risen 109 percent, 137 percent sunflower oil, 90 percent toilet paper, 90 percent sugar, and 102 percent gas.

Pictures of long lines at a bakery in Istanbul over the past few weeks show a dramatic decline in city life, especially for low-income families. [Umar Farooq/Al Jazeera]

For many, the price of bread is what goes on in the streets of Turkey. The Bread Industry Employers’ Union estimates that 200-300kg (440-660 pounds) of bread is consumed per person per year in Turkey. It is usually a soft baguette, cut as a pastry and used to carry eggs, cheese, olives, jams, and other breakfast cereals. In the thousands of Istanbul restaurants called “esnaf lokantasi” that cater to workers who want home-cooked meals, the dishes are served along with beans, soup, or other dishes. Along the streets of Istanbul, the baguette is cut in half and used to make a sandwich for chicken, or beef, or fish.

Bread is so important that during the severe closure during the coronavirus, the Turks were allowed to leave their homes for two reasons: to go to a drugstore, or to a bakery.

“Bread is a staple of Turkish cuisine, and it is often eaten especially if you are a poor family,” said Berk Esen, associate IPC-Stiftung Mercator at the Center for Applied Turkey Studies and an assistant professor at Sabancı University. For example, in a family of five or six, where parents and children as well as the elderly live together, they may eat about two portions of bread each day. As a result, even if the Halk Ekmek bread is slightly cheaper, over the course of the month it adds a lot of income to the low-income family, and the price difference between the bread and what is on the market is widening. inflation is rising. “

Inflation has become a political issue in Turkey, with opposition parties seeking early elections, claiming that the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan do not seem to be aware of the plight of many. The chicken.

Although Erdogan has the authority to appoint or remove cabinet ministers and central bank policy makers, governments in major cities such as Istanbul and Ankara are now under the control of the opposition.

The mayor of Istanbul Imamoglu has dedicated his local efforts to alleviate poverty in the city. Halk Ekmek’s “Public Bread” Public Bread “doubles the daily production of more than 2.5 million baguettes and other types of bread. Unidentified donors can go online to pay for social services. The city also provides infant formula and milk to thousands of needy women, and provides limited education to students struggling to cope with the city’s 16 million inflation rate.

Similar programs run by federal government are also available, such as support for newborn mothers, and student education. But critics say livelihoods are not working well with the growing need because rising prices are hurting Turkish families. The government is also negotiating with labor unions to raise wages, and government officials have stepped up their efforts to raise food prices and supply more basic necessities.

The Istanbul-sponsored bread program has existed since the 1970s. Although set up by the CHP, Esen said successive governments recognized its importance and sought to expand it, including the AKP, which led the municipality for more than a decade.

24-hour operation

Located in an apartment building on the east coast of Istanbul, Halk Ekmek’s Kartal factory has a connecting cable that emits a constant, loud noise that makes it difficult to hear. The 24-hour day, seven days a week is in the middle of efforts to provide basic necessities for the people of Istanbul who are struggling to make ends meet.

About 100 workers are employed in the factory, but the need for speed and efficiency means that the bread is made without human intervention, a mixture that is mixed with machines that knead the dough, cut it, and pass it into a specially designed oven. four lines to make a difference.

Bread production at Istanbul factory Halk Ekmek in the Kartal region of Istanbul [Umar Farooq/Al Jazeera]

Two rows of baguette produce 7,500 pieces of bread per hour, while the other yields 25,000 pieces of small bread. About 360,000 baguettes and 600,000 smaller baguettes are made daily, but engineers Mustafa Umit Ikinmez said this was not enough to meet the demand. “We are always striving to improve our production skills,” Ikinmez told Al Jazeera.

The loaves are then loaded into 30 to 40 loaves of bread that are distributed throughout the city three times a day.

The Kartal factory is one of three areas in which municipalities work in Istanbul producing essential bread and a wide range of specialty loaves – from gluten to whole wheat – which are sold not only in municipal kiosks but also in retail stores.

Pictures of long lines at a bakery in Istanbul over the past few weeks testify to the dramatic decline in city life, especially for low-income families.

Ozgen Nama, the city’s deputy program manager for Halk Ekmek, told Al Jazeera that demand was growing all over the city, but the longest lines were visible in workplaces far from the city.

“We have doubled the production [in the last two years] and the lines are there, and this just shows that people are not able to afford it, and they are very poor, ”said Nama. “Obviously the population is growing in this country.”

The government is building another factory that is expected to come online next year, and add one million donated bread to feed the city’s needy. But Nama said the additions would not be enough to meet the city’s needs. “Even if we multiply four times, it would not be enough to meet the demand. The bread is running out, but the rows are half full, ”he said.

Baguette food was sold less than an hour later this afternoon at a kiosk west of Esenyurt where Al Jazeera visited. “There is a line here every day,” said an employee who asked Al Jazeera not to give his name. “Bread is served at 2 a.m., and by 3 p.m., and the people at the back of the line go home empty-handed,” he said, counting the money he spent that day in preparation for closing shops early.

Meanwhile, the secret bakeries in the city are having a hard time keeping their prices low at 2.5 Turkey liras for 250g bread.

The Bread Industry Employers’ Union, which represents bakers in Turkey, is fighting with government officials such as the Ministry of Agriculture to find a way to reduce costs. Prices for bread – flour – rose 85 percent between April and November this year, according to the agency. The low wheat harvest in 2021 was another reason, the agreement said, but the main reason for the rise in prices and the rapid decline in lira. Fertilizers, oils, and other essential ingredients of wheat, for example, are usually exported and paid in euros or dollars, and the price is paid for baking.

Engineer Mustafa Umit Ikinmez inspects the Istanbul Halk Ekmek factory in Kartal in Istanbul [Umar Farooq/Al Jazeera]

Nama said the government buys flour for up to eight months to avoid being surprised by rising prices. But the price of flour, he says, has risen from 127 cents ($ 8.95) per 50kg bag (110 pounds) earlier in the year, to 350 liras ($ 24.67) today.




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