Turkey’s government has banned the export of oils and margarine including sunflower oil after denying that there were shortages of the products. The Agriculture Ministry took the decision in a communique on Wednesday, the Dünya newspaper reported. The ministry is barring sale of the products abroad to resolve domestic demand issues and problems with price movements, Dünya said. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday accused the main opposition party of running a campaign to cause panic over food stock shortages. Rumours of depleting stocks of basic food stuffs are not accurate, and Turkey has sufficient supply of sunflower oil, Agriculture Minister Vahit Kirişçi said in a statement at the weekend. Rumours that low stocks were causing price hikes were not accurate, he said.
Videos emerged on social media last week showing Turks fighting over crates of sunflower oil. That prompted the opposition to accuse the government of failing to secure supplies and failing on economic policy. Concerns among consumers about the availability and price of cooking oil and other products comes after inflation in the country accelerated to a two-decade high of 54.4 percent in February. The export ban will also apply to soybean oil, sunflower seeds, cottonseed oils, rapeseed, mustard oil, corn oil and margarine, Dünya said.