Additional price hikes coming for alcohol and cigarettes

According to a report in Sözcü, collateral requirements for the production and trade of alcohol and cigarettes will be automatically increased each year in line with the revaluation rate. According to the draft communiqué numbered 2023/50 prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to impose a collateral burden on the production and trade of tobacco and alcoholic beverages, the collateral requirements will become mandatory on January 1, 2024, without a transition period, and must be paid within 60 days at the latest.

Collaterals can be paid via bank guarantees or domestic government debt securities, in addition to cash. According to the draft, all companies that produce or import cigarettes will deposit 50 million TL, those producing macaroons will deposit 40 million, and those producing cigarette paper and filters will deposit 5 million TL for each. Furthermore, additional costs will be imposed on all products, including hookah, cigars, and pipes. For fermented alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine, a collateral between 5 and 50 million liras will be deposited depending on capacity; for distilled alcoholic beverages such as rakı, whiskey, gin, and vodka, a 50 million lira collateral will be deposited regardless of capacity.

It has been reported that the regulation, which was prepared without consulting the sector, will also hit wine exports and gastronomy tourism.

Stating that the government is preparing to deal another heavy blow to domestic alcohol production and farmers who grow grapes, CHP Tekirdağ Deputy İlhami Özcan Aygun said, “Farmers will be forced to sell their grapes for next to nothing. Our domestic and national wine producers will disappear. They have set their sights on our country's small and medium-sized wine producers. The goal is to feed Turkish producers to global wine manufacturers and leave the sector to foreign monopolies. We are facing a communiqué that is both ideologically motivated and hostile to domestic producers.”

News Source: 12punto