November 30, 2015, 11:55 pm / Business

Officials gave retailers a month to refuse Turkish vegetables and fruits

But now tomatoes and tangerines are spoiling at customs Natalya Ishchenko Retailers are ready to find replacements for fruits and vegetables from Turkey, but would like the government to help them with this / Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr / Bloomberg

The Russian government has banned the import of Turkish vegetables and fruits into Russia. On Monday, at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that two main food groups are being limited - vegetables and fruits. In addition to these, some more “targeted” restrictions are possible, he added (hereinafter, quotes from a transcript from the government website).

The ban will take effect with a slight delay - “so that buyers, our trading organizations have time, literally a few weeks <...> to switch to other suppliers,” Dvorkovich explained. In particular, these could be suppliers from Egypt and “a number of other countries.”

Turkish products popular in Russia

More than 40% of imported tomatoes and grapes in Russia are Turkish

It will not be possible to replace the supply of fruits and vegetables from Turkey overnight, so retailers are very grateful to the government for its willingness to provide for a transition period, says Ilya Lomakin-Rumyantsev, president of the Association of Retail Trade Companies. A few weeks, in his opinion, are enough to prevent shortages and price jumps: the networks will have time to renew contracts with suppliers. But, in addition, the networks would be grateful for the assistance of Russian trade missions in establishing effective contacts with new suppliers and for other forms of support, continues Lomakin-Rumyantsev: for example, the quotas for citrus exports in Morocco are not enough to replace Turkish supplies. It would be nice if the supervisory authorities quickly issued the permits necessary to allow new suppliers to enter the Russian market, he notes.

The government has decided not to limit the supply of Turkish industrial products for now, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said yesterday. The bulk of the restrictions on Turkey will come into force on January 1, 2016, the government will see how they work, only after that can we think about expanding the list of bans - for example, on agricultural products and industrial goods, he said.

While retailers are looking for replacements for Turkish products. Dixy is ready to adapt to restrictions in its assortment, but will begin to adjust purchases and logistics once the official list of prohibited products appears, said a representative of this chain, Ekaterina Kumanina. The company “will make every effort to quickly replace suppliers” so that on the eve of the New Year the assortment on the shelves does not change much, it promises. The Lenta hypermarket chain intends to replace part of Turkish food with goods from North African countries, says company representative Anna Meleshina. A representative of X5 Retail Group did not answer questions from Vedomosti.

What is being brought to Russia from Turkey?

Which Turkish goods may disappear from Russian stores if the conflict continues to escalate?

When compiling the list of restrictions, “groups of goods that occupy a significant place in Turkish exports and for Russian consumers the restriction on such Turkish exports will not be critical” were taken as a basis,” Shuvalov assured.

One of the most notable items in Russian vegetable imports is tomatoes: Turkey accounts for almost half of all their imports. “We have analyzed all supplies from Turkey, and there are no special problems with substitution on the Moscow market,” says Alexey Nemeryuk, head of the Moscow Department of Trade and Services. “We are working closely with Iran, Azerbaijan is ready to replace the shortfall in supplies of tomatoes and cucumbers.”

Chains had difficulties with the supply of goods from Turkey even before the imposition of the embargo: interruptions in the supply of Turkish food to Russia have been occurring since last week, say two people close to importers. All cargo from Turkey began to undergo not selective, but complete inspection at customs, explains one of Vedomosti’s interlocutors, as a result, the throughput at southern customs is now about 10 containers per day. On Saturday, five containers were released out of about 530. “If these tomatoes go bad, it’s a loss not for Turkey, but for Russia: this product was paid for and this is a loss for Russian companies,” he says.

Last week, Rosselkhoznadzor announced tightening control over Turkish imports. “We are introducing tough measures, this will be enhanced inspection of cargo and enhanced laboratory control,” Nikolai Vlasov, deputy head of the supervisory agency, told Interfax. In a normal situation, laboratory control is selective. But “if a country allows itself hostile pranks towards Russia, then we cannot be sure that the next prank will not come with a shipment of food, this explains the strengthening of control,” Vlasov argued.

There are still difficulties with the passage of goods from Turkey, says Meleshina from Lenta. “Delivery from Turkish partners undergo enhanced customs control,” confirms Kumanina from Dixy.

There is no talk yet of a ban on fish supplies, but retailers have begun to look for alternatives in the event of a possible ban on this product, say employees of two retail chains. According to the first, in the event of a ban, the chains can find an alternative, but problems will arise: it was Turkish suppliers who supplied supermarkets with dorado and sea bass, the weight most in demand among buyers - about 1 kg, but alternative suppliers do not have such an offer, their fish is much larger.

Over the nine months of 2015, Turkey supplied about 7,000 tons of fish to Russia (out of 403,200 tons of total fish imports into the country), the press service of the Ministry of Agriculture reported, citing customs data. The main markets for Turkish chilled fish in Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg, the ministry said.

The government ordered additional checks of Turkish products at the border

This is not an embargo, Peskov emphasized, control is being strengthened taking into account the growing threat of extremist manifestations

Among the main consumers of such fish are restaurants. So far they have not felt any increase in prices or shortages, says Valentin Dubrovin, head of the purchasing department of Novikov Group. Turkey is not the only supplier of sea bass and dorado: there are also the Faroe Islands and New Zealand. It is more problematic, he said, to find a replacement for lettuce, vegetables and fruits from Turkey. “We have long switched to products from Russian companies,” says Alexandra Rappoport, a representative of the restaurant group.

A representative of the Ministry of Agriculture referred questions from Vedomosti to the government; his colleague at the Ministry of Industry and Trade did not comment on the department’s work related to the introduction of an embargo on the supply of Turkish food.

Polina Gritsenko, Maria Kunle contributed to the preparation of this article