(MENAFN- AzerNews) By Kamila Aliyeva
Russia will not rush with the expansion of Turkish tomato supplies at the expense of new enterprises.
This was stated by the head of the Russian Agriculture Ministry, Alexander Tkachev, in an interview with Russia 24 TV channel, RIA Novosti reported.
"We will look at the quality of Turkish products, and howthese volumes will affect the price,as well asthe production of tomatoes inside Russia. Based on this, we will make certain decisions," he said.
Russia has officially allowed the import of Turkish tomatoes on quotas set by the Agriculture Ministry in late October.From November 1, Russia lifted a strict ban on the import of tomatoes from Turkey. Nevertheless, certain restrictions still remain in place. Ankara will be able to deliver 50,000 tons of tomatoes to the Russian market by the end of the year.
Previously, the Russian Agriculture Ministry has submitted to the Government its proposals on the mechanism for the resumption of tomato imports from Turkey.
Russia levied an embargo on the imports of certain products from Turkey because of the jet-downing crisis in late 2015. Many have been resolved, except the tomato ban, which is the most serious for the Turkish suppliers.
Rosselkhoznadzor, which has recently inspected several Turkish tomato producers, announced earlier that it can consider only large manufacturers for issuing permits for the tomato import.
In mid September, Kommersant cited the manager of a large vegetable producer inRussia and several representatives of the industry's lobby group saying supplies could start from several Turkish firms approved by Russia's watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor.
Currently, there are two types of restrictions with respect to Turkish tomatoes. One of them was introduced by the government of the country. The second is a technical ban, introduced by the Rosselkhoznadzor in connection with the detection of contaminated quarantineable products coming to Russia from Turkey.
The ban on the tomato import is considered to be the most negative for Turkey since Russia was the largest market for the Turkish tomato export with annual profit amounting to billions of dollars.
After the tomato ban, the amount of Turkish tomato exports to Russia decreased by 10.3 percent while their value dropped by 34.3 percent in 2016.
Turkey exported 541,000 tons of tomatoes to Russia in 2015, however, the amount fell to 486,000 tons. The value of tomato exports to the country was $365.3 million in 2015 and later decreased to $239.9 million, Daily Sabah reported.
However, during the first seven months of the currentyear, the amount of tomatoes exported to Russia increased by 9.4 percent and the value of tomato exports also surged by 24.7 percent.
During the period of January-July, Turkey's tomato exports to Russia reached $198.3 million from last year's $159 million. Moreover, last year, the amount of tomatoexports were recorded at 322,000 tons while it reached to 353,000 tons this year during the first seven months.
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