23.10.2026 15:31
According to the 64 basic food items basket of KAMUAR, the research unit of Birleşik Kamu-İş, food prices increased by 4.7 percent monthly in October and by 53.8 percent over the past year. While the increase in food since September 2021 reached 2,353 percent, the wage increase of public employees remained at 1,292 percent; purchasing power against food eroded by 43.3 percent.
(ANKARA) -
According to the research conducted by KAMUAR, the Research and Development unit of the United Public-İş Confederation, on a basket consisting of 64 basic food items, food prices increased by 4.7% in October compared to the previous month. Food inflation reached 48.1% in the first ten months of the year, while the increase over the last year was 53.8%.
The prices in the basket were compiled from chain supermarkets with branches in most of Turkey. The confederation's food price index has been rising continuously month-on-month since June 2020, that is, for 77 months.
A 100-LIRA BASKET HAS REACHED 2,453 LIRA
The statement recalled that the high inflation process began with the Central Bank's interest rate cuts in September 2021. During this period, the annual increase in food rose to as much as 179% in September 2022. In the five-year period from September 2021 to October 2026, food prices increased by a total of 2,353%. In this October, 2,453 lira had to be paid for the food basket that cost 100 lira in September 2021.
In the same period, the increase in the salaries and wages of public employees remained at 1,292%. The average public employee wage, which was 100 lira in September 2021, rose to 1,392 lira. According to the statement, wage earners' purchasing power against food prices eroded by 43.3% in real terms; a public employee can now buy at most 56.7% of the food basket they could buy with one salary in 2021.
The statement included the following expressions: 'The risk of hunger and poverty will continue to grow in the coming months. Because both general economic problems are growing and the problems of the agricultural sector and input prices are increasing.'
FRESH VEGETABLES ROSE BY 23.7% IN ONE MONTH
In October, prices increased month-on-month in all expenditure groups except margarine and cooking oil. Bread-rice-flour-bulgur rose by 0.4%, meat and fish by 1.6%, and milk, dairy products and eggs by 3.6%. Fruit prices rose by 5.5%, fresh vegetable prices by an average of 23.7%, legume prices by 7.2%, and processed foods such as tomato paste, olives, honey, tea and salt by 1.5%.
VEGETABLES ROSE BY 159% IN ONE YEAR
In the January-October period, prices of bread, flour, bulgur and pasta increased by 36.1%, meat-fish by 36.7%, dairy products and eggs by 34.3%, oil by 15.7%, fruit by 62.6%, vegetables by 147.5%, legumes by 49.3%, and other foods by 25%.
In the last one-year period, prices of bread, flour, bulgur and pasta rose by 36.2%, meat-fish by 52.8%, dairy products and eggs by 30.4%, oil by 17.3%, fruit by 65.7%, vegetables by 159.1%, legumes by 66.3%, and other foods by 29.1%.
Average food prices in the November 2025-October 2026 period increased by 55.2% compared to the average of the previous 12-month period. In this calculation, the highest increase was seen in vegetables at 109.6% and in fruit at 79.4%.