欧美文化:Turks queuing up to buy sunflower oil amid stockpiling, price-hike talk

ISTANBUL, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Turkish people have been flocking to grocery stores and supermarkets across the country to buy sunflower oil for the past couple of days, as there is talk that the supplies are running out and the prices going up.

Videos of people snatching sunflower oil bottles, emptying shelves, and queuing up at stores have gone viral through the weekend.

The price of a 5-liter bottle of cooking oil climbed to 200 Turkish liras (14 U.S. dollars) on Monday, up 35 percent in the country's largest city Istanbul in the last three days.

Turkey's self-sufficiency rate in sunflower oil is about 64 percent, with the rest depending on imports, mainly from Russia and Ukraine.

However, the latest conflict between the two countries has put Turkey's sunflower oil shipments at risk.

Following the developments, Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci announced that Turkey stopped its sunflower oil exports to avoid supply problems.

To calm the public, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said there is enough sunflower oil in stock to last until July "even if we do nothing."

Nonetheless, the jitters are still hanging over Turkish residents, especially in Istanbul.

Fazilet Demir, an Istanbul resident, accused supermarket owners of hoarding the products in warehouses for higher prices, urging authorities to fine speculators.

"During the weekend, I saw a bottle (of 5-liter sunflower oil) cost 145 liras, then they (market owners) changed it to 159 liras, and afterward they removed them from the shelves," she grumbled, noting she and her husband have been struggling for a living with one pension, which is barely 4,000 liras.

"I don't want to come to the market anymore, and I don't want to shop ... Someone should put an end to this. These markets change the labels every day as they wish," added another woman, who did not reveal her name.

Meanwhile, experts suggest large quantities of sunflowers be planted in April to raise production and reduce the country's dependency on imports.

The sunflower oil production in Turkey increased by 17 percent in 2021 year on year, according to Kirisci. However, the pandemic condition gave a fillip to its domestic consumption, forcing Turkey to import more.