Translated material
Harvesting
Rosselkhoznadzor prohibits the import of vegetables and fruits from Turkey
Vegetable and fruit counters in Russian stores and markets may become noticeably scarcer in the near future. On Saturday, June 7, temporary restrictions introduced by Rosselkhoznadzor on the import of vegetables and fruits into our country from Turkey, one of the main year-round suppliers of plant products, came into force. This decision, the service clarifies, was the result of “systematic violations by the Turkish side of international and Russian requirements when supplying products.”The ban applies to tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, grapes and lemons produced in Turkey - whether they come directly from Turkey or through third countries. The reason is that since the beginning of the year, 86 shipments from Turkey with a total weight of just under 4 thousand tons were found to contain large amounts of pesticides, nitrates and nitrites. In addition, as Rosselkhoznadzor reported to RIA Novosti, quarantine pests for our country were repeatedly found in vegetables and fruits brought from Turkey.
After such violations, the service repeatedly appealed to the Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Mehmet Eker, demanding that he comply with Russian legislation prohibiting the import of food of inadequate quality. However, Turkey has not taken any steps to tighten control over exported vegetables and fruits, continuing to issue phytosanitary certificates necessary for import into other countries.
Rosselkhoznadzor now completely refuses to trust these documents, so the service decided to stop issuing import quarantine permits for the import of plant products from Turkey shipped after June 7. Nevertheless, officials are not yet planning to completely ban vegetables and fruits from this country: Rosselkhoznadzor states that the restrictions on imports are temporary and will be lifted as soon as the Turkish side “provides guarantees on product safety, backed by real actions.” However, it is unlikely that Turkish agricultural producers will be able to quickly reduce the content of harmful substances in vegetables and fruits that are already ripening...
Similar violations by Turkish suppliers are recorded almost every year. As you know, three years ago Rosselkhoznadzor already tried to limit the import of low-quality vegetables and fruits into the country from Turkey, but they entered Russia through third countries - Azerbaijan and other CIS countries.
Quite strict measures against Turkish exporters, introduced against the backdrop of wildly growing “food” inflation , cannot but raise concerns about the threat of additional pressure on prices. But the service assures that consumers should not notice the absence of Turkish vegetables and fruits on the shelves of markets and shops. “I don’t think it’s relevant because we have other large suppliers. In addition, we are beginning a season when there is enough of our own fruit and vegetable products on the market,” Aleksey Alekseenko, press secretary of Rosselkhoznadzor, previously told RIA Novosti.
However, some experts believe that the ban will have a negative impact on the sale of vegetables and fruits grown in Russia. “If the ban is implemented, then seasonal vegetables and fruits will not fall in price as quickly as usually happens with the onset of summer,” Dmitry Yanin, chairman of the board of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies, told ITAR-TASS. He said that companies whose products take the place of Turkish ones in the market can count on good profits. At the same time, Dmitry Yanin believes that Russian companies are unlikely to benefit from the ban, because “a large number of products that are called domestic in stores are in fact simply packaged in the Russian Federation and received from abroad.”