Turkish trade officials crack down on companies’ opportunistic “abnormal” price hikes

Turkish trade officials crack down on companies’ opportunistic “abnormal” price hikes
Trade inspectors are on the prowl in Turkish high streets looking to ferret out suspect prices. / Bertramz.
By bne IntelliNews September 5, 2018

Turkey’s Ministry of Trade has reportedly launched probes into companies that have hiked prices “abnormally” amid the ongoing currency turbulence.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported that officials were inspecting companies in all provinces of Turkey after “rumours suggesting that some speculators hiked prices of various products by using the temporary volatility in financial markets as an opportunity”.

Inspections were said to be aimed at detecting sellers who inordinately raised prices even though they were not significantly impacted by production cost inflation and the collapse in the value of the Turkish lira (TRY) against hard currencies.

Annual inflation, recorded in August at 17.9%, is at its highest in Turkey in 15 years. The month also saw a 7% m/m gain in producer price inflation, taking the year on year rate from 25% to 32.13%.

The TRY is down around 42% against the dollar in the year to date.

Foodstuffs, home appliance and furniture stores across 81 provinces were checked for price changes under a new August 31 decree, Anadolu said.

"Administrative processes" were launched against commercial entities that increased their prices “abnormally” or resorted to “disguised price hikes” by decreasing the packaged volume of sold food products.

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