Turkey’s government has once again drawn the import weapon against the unrelenting rise of meat prices, which is the result of a combination of factors, including ongoing migration from rural to urban areas, the closure of many small husbandry enterprises, the rising costs of stockbreeding and misguided husbandry policies. The importation of meat is an easy but dangerous way to tackle the problem. Employed periodically over the past seven years, it has already proved ineffective in pulling prices down.

The government has now set a benchmark, bent on continuing the imports until the prices fall to the said level. Food, Agriculture and Livestock Minister Esref Fakibaba pledged in October that government efforts would lead to a 40% decrease in meat prices, which had climbed to up to 50 Turkish lira ($12.60) per kilogram. On Nov. 3, sales of cheaper imported meat began across Turkey at two supermarket chains selected by the government. The state-owned importer Meat and Milk Board (ESK) set the prices at 29 lira ($7.40) per kilogram for beef mince and 31 lira ($7.93) for veal cubes.

Although the initial plan entailed a monthly import of 2,000 tons of meat, the amount was raised to 6,000 tons in a bid to discipline the market and secure a steep decrease in the prices. Fakibaba said the monthly amount could reach 10,000 tons, if need be.

Meanwhile, some questioned whether the meat, imported from Serbia, complied with the norms of halal slaughter. Fakibaba assured the meat was coming from Serbia’s Muslim-majority Sandzak region. “We have Muslim butchers there," he said. "The slaughter is fully halal.”