The Russian Agricultural Supervisory Agency Rosselhoznadzor officials have announced that a majority of the Turkish companies allowed to export tomato to Russia since the start of May have been violating food safety regulations. The officials said that they will meet with Turkish authorities and will decrease or increase tomato imports according to the results of these meetings.
Russian officials noted that there are currently 43 Turkish companies exporting tomatoes to Russia, 29 of which have started the exports since May 1st. A total of 6,400 tons of tomatoes were exported to Russia during May and 11 and many companies were found to be in violation of food safety regulations.
As a result Russian officials are requesting a meeting with the Turkey Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock to get information from them about their plans to resolve this issue. The result of the meeting will be a determining factor for the future of tomato trade between the two countries.
Russia had previous lifted the restrictions on the companies allowed to export tomatoes to Russia from Turkey. Tomatoes became a symbol of stagnating trade relations between two countries after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter plane in November, 2015 after which Russia stopped all its tomato imports from Turkey. This ban lasted all the way until the end of November, 2017 and was incrementally lifted after that time.
Source: Sputnik News