Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Ibrahim Yumaklı, stated that the Meat and Milk Board (ESK) continues to purchase milk as part of market regulation, saying, “We will increase the milk premium by 100% for the months of October, November, and December, applying it at 1 Turkish lira per liter.”

Yumaklı met with farmers in Yeşildere Village of Elmadağ. Emphasizing that they will continue meetings with producers under the name of “Friday gatherings” in every part of Turkey, Yumaklı said, “We discuss face to face how we can solve the problems faced by colleagues in production, what can be done to prevent new problems.” Yumaklı pointed out that supports for agricultural production have been increased from 91 billion Turkish liras to around 135 billion Turkish liras for the upcoming year, stating that the supports will be used in the most effective way for producers to produce more efficiently and with higher quality. Yumaklı expressed that Turkey has a long way to go in terms of production potential, stating, “We will increase our production with greater determination in this new period, God willing. Since the end of last August, there was a problem due to the increase in milk production in particular. As the Meat and Milk Board, we have started to fulfill our market regulation duty.

Purchases are still ongoing. About 50 thousand tons of milk were withdrawn from the market during this period. We will continue until the end of the year. If necessary, we will continue this next year as well.

For the months of October, November, and December, we will increase the milk premium by 100%, applying it at 1 Turkish lira (per liter). During this period, the milk premium will be implemented as 1 Turkish lira for 3 months, both to regulate the market and to support our producers by collecting excess milk through the Meat and Milk Board.”