Turkey

Turkey’s exports increased by 15.8 percent in May compared to the same month of the previous year, according to data released by the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM) Thursday.

The monthly export volume stood at around $12.5 billion, increasing for the seventh consecutive month. In the first five months of 2017, Turkey’s exports have recovered, marking a 10 percent increase in total. The TİM announced the numbers during a press conference attended by Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci.

“Of our 20 top exporting partners, the highest increase in exports was to Russia with 73.4 percent. The five-fold increase in exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to this country had an effective impact on the said hike. Thus, our exports to Russia showed the highest monthly increase in May 2017,” he noted.

Büyükekşi said exports to 160 countries and regions increased in May, while exports to 75 others declined, stressing that exports to the top five exporting countries increased.

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Following the lifting of the sanctions between Russia and Turkey, the Russian phytosanitary service is taking the first steps to get the trade started again. This month the service will travel to Turkey to inspect companies. It concerns cultivation companies that grow peppers, lettuce, pumpkins and courgettes. The goal is to judge the companies and to check whether they meet the conditions.

Turkish president Erdoğan called on his Russian colleague to also lift the final sanctions. President Putin says the sanctions won’t be in effect forever, but that time is needed to lift them. On Wednesday, the two presidents met and talked about the sanctions and other topics.

During the press conference after the meeting, the presidents said that they will make an effort to lift the sanctions, but for tomatoes it can take three to five years before Russia will open its borders again. “We agreed to lift all restrictions, but we’ve asked our Turkish partners and friends for understanding the fact that after well-known events, which led to the sanctions, life has moved on,” president Putin said during the press conference.

According to Turkish traders, the first onions from the province of Adana have been exported to Russia. The resumption of the export gives the Turkish growers hope again, says the head of the district. The Russian phytosanitary service will talk to the Turkish citrus sector. In October last year the boycott of fruit was lifted. Since then 12 parties have been intercepted which did not meet the phytosanitary demands. The conversations between Russian and Turkish delegates are planned for June.

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Russia will not lift the import ban on Turkish vegetables, fruit, and meat, according to agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor. Last week, Turkey imposed stiff tariffs on Russian wheat and corn, making exports unprofitable.

According to watchdog spokeswoman Yulia Melano, “the issue of full or partial removal of restrictions on Turkish fruit and vegetable products for the Russian market should be discussed in conjunction with the removal of counter restrictions on Russian products from the Turkish side.”

Last week, the Russian media reported that Turkey had imposed a 130 percent tariff on wheat, corn and sunflower meal that is making deliveries highly unprofitable for local businesses.

Turkey’s Trade Ministry denied the reports, but a representative of the Russian trade mission in Ankara said Turkey had excluded Russia from a list of countries with zero rates of customs duties. Turkey is the second largest buyer of Russian wheat after Egypt.

Russia will keep the ban on Turkish frozen meat and poultry as well as tomatoes, cucumbers, grapes, apples, pears, strawberries and other fruit and vegetables.

In March, Rosselkhoznadzor lifted the restrictions against Turkish onions, cauliflower, broccoli and some other vegetables, explaining there is a lack of these food items in Russia.

Food imports from Turkey were blocked in response to the downing of a Russian jet in Syria in November 2015. There were other restrictions, including the cancellation of charter flights to Turkey, the introduction of a visa regime, and a ban on hiring Turkish citizens. At the request of the Kremlin, Russian travel agencies suspended sales of package tours to the country.

Moscow-Ankara relations began to improve after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan apologized over the jet incident. Russia lifted the flight ban, but the food ban has remained.

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Last week, Russia lifted the boycott of a number of Turkish products, including cauliflower, broccoli and onions. However, for a number of products, such as tomatoes, apples, pears and cucumbers, the boycott remains in effect. On Monday, the Turkish government requested to also lift the sanctions on the remaining products. Ankara wants to increase exports to Russia by 100 billion dollar per year.

The Russian phytosanitary service, however, is in no hurry, and has disregarded the request. “These restrictions, that are still in place, will remain in place and we are not planning to lift them. And especially not in the near future,” Yulia Melano, spokesperson of the organisation, told the Russian press agency, Tass.

It was announced by the Ministry of Economic Development that lifting the sanctions last week had no effect on price developments in Russia. Although allowing products such as cauliflower, broccoli and onions will have consequences for the price developments of these specific products, their market share is too small to influence general trends.

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The trade turnover between Turkey and Russia in January this year rose for the first time since 2014, reports the agency Anadolu, citing the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

In January 2017, the value of Turkey’s exports to Russia increased by 59.1% to $150 million. During this period, the revenue generated by Turkish fruit and vegetable exports to Russia rose to nearly $38 million due to the partial removal of restrictions on the export of Turkish oranges and mandarins.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s imports from Russia in January rose by 10.2% – from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion dollars. Most of these shipments corresponded to energy (almost 832 million) and steel (279 million dollars).

Trade turnover between Russia and Turkey had decreased since 2014.

The embargo on Turkey, affecting a wide range of vegetables and fruits, as well as raw meat and flowers, was introduced by Russia on 1 January 2016 in response to a Turkish Air Force F-16 fighter jet shooting down a Russian Sukhoi Su-24M in Syria. In October 2016, the Russian government decided to readmit a number of Turkish products, including stonefruits and citrus. Grapes, apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, onions and shallots, cauliflower, broccoli and cucumbers are still banned.

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Russia is in no hurry to lift the boycott on Turkish products. “There are no plans to lift the boycott in the near future,” said Sergey Dankvert of Russian phytosanitary watchdog, Rossekhoznadzor, to Sputnik News.

“The import of a number of products is already allowed. The other products are boycotted by us and by the Russian government,” according to Sergey in pro-Russian media. “There will not be a massive opening for Turkish companies on the Russian market.” However, the boycotted products still find their way to the Russian market via detours, through Mali and Uganda, for example.

In 2016, Russia boycotted a number of products after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane. After the Turkish government apologised in the summer of 2016, the process of reconciliation was started. Russia has already lifted a number of the sanctions, but not all. For example, in October the trade in dried oranges, tangerines, peaches, nectarines and plums was started again. The export of other products, such as tomatoes, apples, strawberries, courgettes and pumpkins is still not allowed.

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Ankara expects Moscow to soon lift the ban on the import of five types of Turkish plant products – pomegranates, aubergines, peppers, courgettes and lettuce, as stated by the Minister of Agriculture on Monday.

Faruk Çelik, the Turkish Minister of Agriculture, said that another 11 kinds of Turkish plant products would remain banned. “With regard to them, the Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Alexander Tkachev, said that a decision would be made during the visit of Prime Minister Binali Yildirim to Russia (5-6 December),” stated the Minister.

The improvement in Turkish-Russian relations have already ensured an increase in the export of Turkish fruit and vegetables. Compared to the same period a year previously, the Turkish export of tangerines has increased by 41 per cent. With that, export amounted to 90,211 tonnes. The export of oranges increased by 27 per cent to 26,000 tonnes. Last year, between 19 October and 16 November, Turkey exported 63,794 tonnes of tangerines and 20,713 tonnes of oranges, amounting to a total value of 43 million dollar. During the same period this year, Turkey earned over 44 million dollar through the export of tangerines alone.

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