According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Turkey expects to increase its tomato exports to Russia by 50 million kilos and could export 350 million kilos of tomatoes to this destination in the next campaign. According to the news agency, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture is preparing a new draft on tomato imports from Turkey, following the requests from representatives of the Turkish sector that have been requesting Russia to completely eliminate the quota they imposed on Turkish tomato imports.
Russia is an important destination for Turkish fruit and vegetable exports, especially since Russia vetoed agri-food imports from the European Union. In 2021, Turkey exported 623 million kilos of tomatoes to all markets, practically half of them to the Russian market, for a total value of 363 million dollars (nearly 320 million euro). Russia first imposed the quota on Turkish tomato exports in 2015 after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane it said had violated its airspace near the Syrian border. Moscow lifted the import ban in November 2017 as tensions between the two countries eased, particularly after the launch of the TurkStream pipeline that brings Russian gas to Turkey but set limits.