Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
How will Russia-Turkey trade war affect Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market?
Russia's trade war with Turkey will certainly affect the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market with changes to be rather serious and pleasant for Ukrainian consumers. Fruit-Inform analysts expect a decrease in prices of mandarins, grapes, bell peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes, as Turkey has always been the major supplier of those products to Ukraine in winter.
Turkish traders will have to quickly switch over to alternative sales markets with the focus on the largest importers, inclusive of Ukraine. It is a case of rather large volumes of produce: Turkey annually shipped about 400,000 tons of fresh vegetables and almost 500,000 tons of fresh fruits to Russia.
Ukraine has usually ranked 3rd-4th among the largest importers of Turkish fruits and vegetables. In the previous seasons, Ukraine purchased about 10% of Turkey's total annual mandarin exports and accounted for 5-8% of total exports of tomatoes and cucumbers. The EU countries and Iraq have been ranking second among the largest importers of Turkish fresh produce for many years.
At the same time, a decrease in prices would be rather significant in Ukraine only in case of stable situation with the national currency in the country.