Turkish tomato exporters and producers welcomed Russia's decision to increase that nation’s tomato exports quota by 50,000 tons. They had been waiting for this decision as the upper limits of the quota were reached easily even before the end of last year. Yesterday, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan announced the raising of the quota via Twitter. She said the approval process of Russia's decree on the subject has been completed and that the decree will come into effect after 10 days.
Turkey’s tomatoes exports increased by 3% in 2020 to $313.4 million (TL 2 billion), while most of the foreign sales were made to Russia, according to the data of the Turkey Exporters Assembly (TIM). Though there was a 28% year-on-year decrease in exports to that country, the total value of the sales was recorded as $62.2 million, down from $82.2 million in 2019.
As reported on dailysabah.com¸ Turkish exporters called for a removal of quotas on tomato sales to Russia last December as they had reached the limits of the quota by the end of November, a move they claim is supported by both Turkish exporters and Russian importers. Later in the same month, Interfax news agency reported that the Russian agriculture ministry has proposed increasing its quota for tomato imports from Turkey by 25%.