TMO's hazelnut purchase at 250 lira per kilogram draws sharp rebuke from YENİ Party: 'Misery price'

The hazelnut purchase price of 250 lira per kilogram announced by the Turkish Agricultural Products Office (TMO) for the 2026 season has drawn sharp criticism from YENİ Party Ordu MP Seyit Torun. During a visit to Borçka district in Artvin, Torun characterized the price as 'mockery of producers.'

Torun emphasized that all agricultural chambers declared per-kilogram production costs at 300 lira, while TMO set the price at 250 lira. He questioned why producers, who went into debt due to last year's poor harvest and are now paying nearly double for pesticides and fertilizers this season, should face a lower hazelnut price when the market reached 350 lira last year.

Reminding that TMO has not incurred losses in any season of hazelnut purchases, Torun said: 'This decision affecting approximately 500,000 producers and 8 million people must be reversed.' Hazelnut purchase prices carry decisive weight as an annual reference point for village economies throughout the Black Sea basin.