Turkey’s food inflation is about 12 times higher than the eurozone average, with new cost pressures building despite recent signs that the pace of price increases is slowing, the Cumhuriyet daily reported.
Annual food inflation in Turkey stood at 33.4 percent in March, compared to around 2.6 percent in the eurozone. Food prices in Turkey also rose much more quickly than in developed economies between 2019 and 2025, increasing by about 790 percent compared to an OECD average of 45.8 percent.
The gap is also visible in purchasing power. Based on minimum wage levels, a worker in Germany can buy far more basic food items than a worker in Turkey. A minimum-wage earner in Germany can buy roughly 1,230 liters of milk and 88 kilograms of beef, compared with about 432 liters of milk and 40 kilograms of beef in Turkey.
Separate data from the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV) showed that monthly food inflation was 2.90 percent in March, while annual food inflation stood at 33.4 percent. The institute said food inflation in 2026 began to move into a downward trend in March, meaning price increases have started to slow even though levels remain high.
That slowdown may not last.
Tensions in West Asia following the February 28 US and Israeli strikes on Iran disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and pushed up energy and fertilizer costs. A large share of global fertilizer raw materials passes through the region, and supply disruptions together with higher natural gas costs have already affected production in some countries.
Turkey is especially exposed because it depends heavily on imported fertilizer inputs. Prices rose sharply between late February and the end of March, with ammonium nitrate up 26.5 percent, ammonium sulphate 23.3 percent and urea fertilizer 19.5 percent. Diesel prices increased by 22.3 percent.
The increases came during key fertilization periods for winter and summer crops, limiting farmers’ ability to use sufficient inputs. That raises the risk of lower output in the next harvest season and could keep upward pressure on food prices in the months ahead.
Despite the recent slowdown in monthly increases, food inflation in Turkey has remained in the double digits for more than six years, leaving the country vulnerable to further cost shocks.