The shopkeepers of Van Cheesemakers’ Bazaar said that they expect the pricing in the market to be reflected in the Van herby cheese, which has not been increased yet. While dairy products are sold at a higher price throughout Turkey, herbed cheese offered for sale in the Van Metropolitan Municipality Cheese Shop is sold at the old price. While herb cheese continues to be sold for 65 TL per kilo, it is stated that Van herby cheese may also get its share of price hikes in the coming days.
Increase in Dairy Products
According to the news of Prestij Haber, other dairy products are sold at a higher price in Van Cheese Market, as is the case throughout Turkey. Shopkeepers say that the increase applied to dairy products will also reflect on Van herbed cheese in the future.
“What We Take for 30, We Take for 45”
Rüstem Apaydın, one of the shopkeepers of the bazaar, stated that the farmer also kept up with the price hikes in the market and said, “Now, everyone is making a raise on what they have on the grounds of dollars, and the cheese producer is doing the same. For example, the villager sells the cheese I bought for 30 TL a few days ago for 45 TL. But since the cheese we have had from June, we are currently selling it at the old price, but at this rate, these hikes will also reflect on the herbed cheese, and we will have to increase the price,” he said.
“Customer Boredom Increased Even More”
Apaydın said that at the beginning of the season, Van Cheese Shop is a little more active, but there has been a serious shortage of customers lately, “There is always a customer problem in this cheese market, but this problem has increased much more recently. Shopkeepers are in a very difficult situation… In March, the rents of the shops will be re-determined, we do not know how we will manage under these expenses, in this customer shortage,” he said.
Bulk Sales to Iraq
Stating that the shopkeepers of the Cheese Bazaar survived thanks to the sales made abroad, Apaydın said, “Our strongest customers are the customers from Northern Iraq. They buy the cheese in bulk. This gives the tradesmen a bit of a sigh of relief. There are also orders from western provinces from time to time, this is how tradesmen can survive. Without these sales, it is not possible to manage otherwise. The tradesmen have only one advantage, the goods in their hands are priced, but for this, there must be sales,” he said.
Kayhan: No Increase in Herb Cheese Yet
The President of the Historical Van Cheese Shop, Hasan Kayhan, noted that after the increase in raw milk prices, dairy products were also increased, and that there is no increase in herbed cheese yet. Expressing that they sell herbed cheese for 65 TL per kilo, Kayhan noted that the prices of products such as tzatziki and butter have increased.
Kayhan stated that this year’s products, which are called fresh, have increased by 50 percent, and products from last year have been increased by around 20 percent; “If we had reflected the increase in Van herbed cheese, its price would have reached 100 TL. However, we continue to sell herbed cheese for 65 TL. Last year, the weight price was 60 TL,” he said.
After more than 45 percent increase in raw milk in the past days; The prices of dairy products such as cheese, tzatziki and butter were also updated and new price tariffs were reflected on the labels. In this context, the artisans of the Historical Van Cheese Shop started to sell with the new price tariff. The shopkeepers of the bazaar said that there was a decrease in their business after the hikes.
Hasan Kayhan, President of the Historical Van Cheese Shop, said that after the increase in raw milk prices, many dairy products were also increased. Kayhan stated that the price of herbed cheese is sold for 65 TL; “We didn’t raise herbed cheese and we kept our profit margins low,” he said.
New Prices…
Evaluating the hike in milk and dairy products, the President of the Historical Van Cheese Shop, Hasan Kayhan: “After the hike in raw milk, the price of cottage cheese rose from 15 liras to 20 – 22 liras per kilo. The price given to us by the factories is between 20 – 22 TL. Our citizens, who were producing in their village, used to give us the cottage cheese for 10 TL, but when the costs increased, our villagers started to say that they could give up animal husbandry. Since we did not want this, we started to buy the price of cottage cheese from them for 15 TL. We did this hike and it continues like this. The weight of the herbed cheese is 65 liras per kilo. If we had applied the price hike applied to other products to herbed cheese, we would have been selling the kilo price for 100 TL. However, we did not apply this increase in herbed cheese. Last year, we were selling herbed cheese for 60 lira, this year it was 65 lira. The weight of the butter obtained from cow’s milk was 45-50 liras, now we should not sell it for less than 80 liras. Again, we used to sell butter obtained from sheep’s milk for 80 liras, and now the kilo price is 120 liras and it is not available.
Translator: Mehmet Akif Coşkun
Serhat News
