Russia will find substitute for Turkish grain market in nearest months

Russia will find a substitute for Turkey’s grain market in the nearest months, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said March 27.

"We hope to find new market channels for grain and painlessly find substitute for Turkey in the nearest two-three, maximum five months," he said.

According to Tkachev, Ankara’s decision was unexpected. "The decision of Turkey was unexpected to us and hugely inflammatory. We didn’t expect this decision, especially that the participants of top-level meetings said other things," he said.

Russian agriculture bruised by Turkey’s punitive import duties

The restrictive duties had an impact on Russian agriculture producers, particularly on Russia’s south, the minister said.

"Of course, this is a major setback for the country’s south regarding sales and exports, as Turkey used to receive around 3 million tons of grain and we have to urgently look for new markets," he said.

Turkey excluded Russia from the list of countries free of duties for imports of agricultural products starting March 15. Now, Russia and some other countries are not on the list of states with duty-free imports that can deliver commodities for further processing and export free of payment of the duty amounting to 130 percent. Turkey is Russia’s second-biggest grain importer in volume terms after Egypt.

Source: TASS