Turkey: Milk Surplus in Turkey
Turkey’s dairy and red meat balance is always tenuous, with never enough red meat leading to high prices, and a protected market generally from imports. An oversupply of milk and shortage of red meat in 2008 led to some mass slaughtering of dairy cattle which some are predicting may happen again. In 2008, after many cattle were slaughtered, it led to a rise in milk prices, and consequently a rise in imports of live animals to replace the herd. The recent decline in Turkey’s dairy products exports due to turmoil Turkey’s main export market of Iraq, are leading to a glut of milk on the market and a fear that dairy farmers may begin to slaughter animals from the national herd.
