Turkish Potato Prices surge adds political, economic pressure

The humble potato has become a factor in Turkey's political and economic turmoil as prices of the staple soar, hurting the living standards of poorer Turks just before the ruling AK Party's toughest election test in a decade.



At a market in the lower-income Istanbul suburb of Kucukcekmece, potatoes sell for between 3 and 4 lira ($1.33 and $1.77) a kilogramme, up from slightly more than 1 lira at about this time last year.



That could be a political headache for the government at the best of times, but it comes just before March 30 local government elections in which Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party will try to keep its dominance after a high-level corruption scandal erupted in December.



Potatoes are a major part of the diet of many Turks, widely used in basic dishes such as vegetable stews.



The soaring price of potatoes is to a large extent due to inefficiencies in Turkey's food production sector, analysts say - a reminder that the AK Party, although it presided over a decade of rising incomes, has not solved some of the country's main economic problems.



The large number of middlemen, the fact that many potatoes are produced on small-scale farms, and high fuel and electricity prices contribute to high prices of potatoes and other vegetables in Turkey.



"The issue is not the tomatoes or potatoes, but the structural problems in the Turkish food sector," Burak Kanli, an economist at Finans Invest, said in a report. "Food price volatility in Turkey is seven times higher than the EU-27 average and the volatility is consistently increasing."