The Turkish Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Animal Husbandry said that the Turkish delegation will discuss resumption of imports of agricultural products to Russia during its visit to Moscow.
The visit of the Turkish delegation was scheduled for April 26, however, as the assistant head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Alexey Alexeyenko, told Vestnik Kavkaza, it was postponed, because representatives of the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture haven't got visas yet. "We're doing everything we can to help them with visas. Our people left for Minsk to help them," he said.
The ministry added that the visit of the Turkish delegation will be held at the invitation of the Russian side, Trend reports.
The assistant head of Rosselkhoznadzor, Alexey Alexeyenko, said earlier about the Turkish delegation's visit to Moscow to discuss issues related to resumption of imports of agricultural products to Russia.
A research fellow at the center for agrarian and food policy at RANEPA, Vasily Uzun, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza noted that tomatoes, oranges and grapes may return to the Russian market in the first place, they were the main agricultural products supplied to Russia by Turkey before the embargo. "Turkish tomatoes are cheaper and their delivery is more convenient, so their return is quite possible. Perhaps, in the future this issue will be resolved in some other way, because now Russia is expanding production of its own greenhouse tomatoes, but it takes time," the expert explained.
"A significant part of the grape market will probably also be restored. As for citrus fruit, their place was taken by products from Morocco. We have to see which of the countries will offer their products at a cheaper price," he said.
The expert also commented on more rigorous approach of the Russian services to quality assessment of food imports, therefore there is a possibility that part of Turkish suppliers will not be able to return to the Russian market due to the low quality of products after lifting of sanctions. "I do not know which claims Rosselkhoznadzor imposed against the Turkish production, but I do not see any cavils against the formal parameters," Vasily Uzun said.
In addition, he drew attention to the fact that other niches except for grapes, tomatoes, peppers and citrus fruits are not available for Turkey. "Turkish livestock products are noncompetitive. This also applies to grain and oil, which Russia supplies to Turkey," the expert said.
