The Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey will start providing vegetables for the big grocery chains like Migros, Carrefour, A101, Şok and BİM. This will be done in addition to deliveries to the direct sale points initially installed by the Ankara and Istanbul municipalities, said Agriculture and Forestry Minister, Bekir Pakdemirli, in a statement.
The minister noted that the direct sale points have spread to 110 locations across Turkey with the participation of municipalities from Bursa, Balıkesir, Samsun, Gaziantep and Trabzon. He confirmed that these sale points dragged down vegetable and fruit prices by 40 to 50 percent.
Minister Pakdemirli also announced that the 16,000 branches of the largest supermarket chains will procure agriculture produce from the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives and sell them at the same prices as the municipality-run direct sale points.
In February, the municipalities in Turkey's two largest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, established sale points that sell a number of agricultural products to average consumers at prices considerably lower than those at neighborhood retail marketplaces or supermarket chains. The vegetables sold at municipal direct sale points are supplied from five regional directorates of the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey, including Antalya, İzmir, Kütahya, Mersin and Ankara.
Dailysabah.com reports how, in addition to fruits and vegetables, direct sale points also offer different types of legumes for Turkish consumers.
