Does the Exchange Rate Have a Pass-Through Effect on Domestic Food Prices in Türkiye? An Empirical Study Using a Combined ANN Algorithm and VAR Method

Abstract

Exchange rate fluctuations have far-reaching consequences for national economies, companies and, above all, consumers. It is therefore important to understand the mechanisms by which these fluctuations affect food prices in domestic markets. In this context, we examine the complex relationship between exchange rates and domestic food prices and attempt to calculate the pass-through effect of the exchange rate on domestic prices. To examine the pass-through effect of the exchange rate on food prices, we use monthly USD/TRY exchange rate data from January 2003 to July 2023 as well as the global food price index, the export-import rate for food and the producer price index for food in Türkiye. We employ the vector autoregression (VAR) method to determine the optimal lags of the variables included in the analysis and the artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm to calculate the overall pass-through effect of the USD/TRY exchange rate on domestic food prices. The results show that the pass-through effect of the variable on food prices persists for three months: the current month, the previous month and the two previous months. The total pass-through effect of the exchange rate on food prices reaches up to 27%. Half of this impact comes from the previous month's food prices. In addition, the ratio of food exports to imports accounts for about 12% of the increase in domestic food prices. The results also show that the variable with the highest pass-through effect is the producer price index and that 90% of the increase in food prices is due to domestic dynamics, while the effect of price increases in foreign markets is only about 10%.