May 31 2005, 09:59 Agrarian Marketing Project

Good news for the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable business - Russia imposed veto on importation of agricultural commodities from Turkey

According to information provided by Russian news agencies, the Russian Agricultural Control Inspection banned the import of all agricultural commodities from Turkey because of the constant violation of the Russian Phytosanitary Rules by the Turkish exporters.

If we take into consideration the fact that Turkey is one of the leading suppliers of fresh fruit and vegetable commodities to Russian market, we can assume that this decision may cause the significant price growth on vegetable, fruit and berry commodities in Russia, if only it is not canceled soon.

This year the prices on Russian market will be higher than a year ago, in favor of this forecast speaks the fact that the same decision has been made recently concerning the fruit and vegetable supply from Moldova; for this country the Russian market is strategic. Past year Russia banned the import of agricultural commodities from Netherlands, still later they lifted the prohibition

According to the opinion of the specialists of Agricultural Marketing Project, this situation development on the Russian fruit and vegetable market may only benefit the Ukrainian suppliers of fresh vegetable, fruit and berry commodities; moreover, they are entering the EU market now. No one would like to be on place of the Russian consumers, as this year they have to spend much more money on fresh natural vitamins.

The prices on fruit and vegetable commodities in Ukraine have always been significantly lower than in the large cities in Russia; taking into consideration the recent limitations, the price difference may be too dramatic. The Ukrainian producers can get interested in Russian market, if only the respective control body finds that the Ukrainian commodities do not satisfy very strict phytosanitary requirements of Russia. This fact may probably take place (some experts prognosed it earlier), so that we can only sympathize with the Russian consumers who are sure to meet with the deficit of fresh and quality fruits and vegetables.