Russian has announced they will strengthen the
control of supplies of agricultural products and foodstuffs from Turkey.
Although it is not specifically stated in the
announcement, the action is presumed to be in direct response to the shooting
down of a Russian fighter jet by Turkey earlier this week.
In a statement the Russian Minister of
Agriculture, Alexander Tkachev said he has informed his government that on
average, 15% of Turkish agricultural products do not comply with Russian
standards.
He goes on to say that since the beginning of
2015 there are about 40 cases of banned residues and harmful substances in Turkish
animal origin products and a significant excess of the maximum permissible
levels of pesticides, nitrates and nitrites in fruit and vegetables.
The response has been to instruct Rosselkhoznadzor
(Russia’s veterinary and phytosanitary service) to put strict control of
delivery of agricultural products and food from Turkey and arrange additional
checks at the border.
In a separate statement Tkachev went on to
lay out the scale of the agricultural products and foodstuff trade between the
two countries stating that during 10 months of 2015, imports of agricultural
products and foodstuffs from Turkey were valued at 1.035 billion US dollars.
Tkachev went on to say that Turkish citrus fruit
and vegetables account for 25% and 20% of the total supplies to Russia and
that, if necessary, they could be substituted with imports from Iran, Morocco,
Israel, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, South Africa, China, Argentina, Abkhazia and Georgia.
The Minister further stated that so far this
year Russia has exported 3.5mmt grain to Turkey - nearly 12% of total exports
of grain - and that in the event of the termination of grain exports to Turkey, Russia would look to Middle East and African countries as export destinations.