Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Russia’s phytosanitary watchdog discusses lifting ban on vegetables with Turkey
The ban on Turkish supplies of pepper, eggplants, squashes and lettuce to Russia may be lifted soon, Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) Sergey Dankvert said Wednesday, adding that the talks on tomatoes supplies have been postponed.
"We’ve negotiated (supplies of - TASS) eggplants, pepper, squashes and lettuce," he said when asked which categories of Turkish vegetables may be reopened for supplies. Speaking about tomatoes he said the issue has not been resolved as the Turkish side is likely to offer vegetables grown in "Antalya and a whole mess of growing houses."
According to Dankvert, Rosselkhoznadzor still advocates reopening of the Russian market only for big Turkish producers since it is easier to control product safety this way.
Earlier Russia’s Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said the food embargo against Turky is unlikely to be lifted by the end of this year. The complete abolishment of the embargo on Turkish agricultural products was discussed on December 6 at the meeting of Prime Ministers of Russia and Turkey. However, Turkey is not yet ready to satisfy all Russian requirements to each kind of products, Tkachev said. Rosselkhoznadzor will review the situation and "political and economic decisions" will be made on such basis, he added.