Russian sanctions on agricultural products to cost Turkey $764 million: Minister

ANKARA/MOSCOW

Turkish Agriculture Minister Faruk Çelik. AA Photo

Turkish Agriculture Minister Faruk Çelik has said the losses from Russian sanctions on Turkey’s agricultural products are estimated to be around $764 million.

“As Russia has excluded some products out of the sanction list, we estimate the loss in our agricultural exports to the country will be around $764 million, while our total exports to Russia in this field are at around $1.27 billion,” Çelik said to a group of journalists, as reported by Reuters. 

He added Turkey doesn’t face a dramatic problem in the agricultural sector amid the Russian sanctions. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said Turkey’s fresh fruit and vegetable exports which are waiting at Russia’s borders will be recalled soon. 

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on Dec. 1 signed a government order approving a raft of sanctions to be imposed on Turkey over the downing of a Russian warplane. 

The order, published on the government’s official website, included a list of the agricultural products that Russia will no longer import from Turkey from Jan. 1, 2016. The list included fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, onions, grapes and apples, as well as chicken products. It did not include lemons or nuts, of which Russia imports large quantities from Turkey.  

Meanwhile, Russia’s Agriculture Ministry will not expand the list of products banned for importing to Russia from Turkey, a representative of the ministry’s press service said on Dec. 3.

“The Ministry of Agriculture does not plan to expand the list of embargoed food products,” the representative said, as quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency.