ROSTOV-ON-DON, March 27. /TASS/. Russia will find a substitute for Turkey’s grain market in the nearest months, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said Monday.
"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.
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%. Previously Russian exporters and their Turkish customers imported grain meant for processing and further export with zero duty, while they still had to pay a 130% duty in order to sell products locally.
Turkey is Russia’s second-biggest grain importer in volume terms after Egypt.