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A family of four in Türkiye needed ₺37,388.30 ($774.70) in August to maintain a healthy, balanced, and sufficient diet, up 1.2% or ₺448.43 from the previous month, the country's largest trade union federation reported Monday.
The poverty threshold, covering food as well as essential spending on clothing, housing, transportation, education, health, and other needs, reached ₺121,786 in August, while the monthly cost of living for a single worker rose to ₺48,305.38.
Annual food costs rose 37.9%, while the eight-month increase from the end of 2025 reached 24%, according to the report.
In the breakdown of the price changes, Turk-Is stated that the expected seasonal decline in fruit and vegetable prices did not occur. Potatoes and onions remained at high price levels, with average prices reaching ₺113.23 per kilogram for vegetables and ₺150.77 for fruit. The combined average stood at ₺119.41 per kilogram.
Milk, cheese, and yogurt prices showed no significant movement in August. Beef mince and diced beef prices increased somewhat, while lamb prices declined slightly. Chicken prices also rose, while fish prices showed no significant change.
Egg prices increased as the start of the school year approached. Prices for chickpeas, dried beans, and lentils showed no significant change, although some stores revised red lentil prices downward.
Turk-Is conducts its Hunger and Poverty Threshold Research every month to track workers' living conditions and measure how changes in basic food prices affect household budgets. The study uses a scientifically determined nutrition pattern for a family of four and collects prices from markets and neighborhood bazaars in Ankara, which it visits two to three times a month.
The latest figures come just days before Türkiye releases its official August inflation data, with the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) scheduled to publish the report on Thursday, Sept. 3. Market expectations center on the 1.8% to 2% range, mostly driven by renewed energy pressure during the month.
In July, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased 1.6% from the previous month and were 37.5% higher than a year earlier, while overall annual consumer inflation stood at 31.8%.
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