MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. Grain exports to Turkey are operating as usual. Russia’s phytosanitary watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor did not receive any requests for revoking export certificates, the agency’s official representative Yulia Melano told TASS.
"Grain exports are running according to schedule, there are no recalls of certificates," she stated.
Nevertheless, the service will send a request to the trade mission in Turkey to verify the information about Turkey introducing quotas for grain imports from Russia.
Earlier on Wednesday, Vedomosti citing sources said that Turkey slapped new restrictions on Russian grain exporters. According to the newspaper, currently Russia might account for only 20-25% of the licenses for duty-free import of grain into the country.
Andrei Sizov, Director of SovEcon, an agricultural analytical center, told TASS that he has information about such quotas. According to him, these are not Ankara’s official instructions. "There are problems with receiving these licenses - somebody might not receive them at all, someone says that there are unofficial instructions to issue no more than 20-25% of licenses. Yes, this is some unspoken rule for our exporters," he noted.
At the same time, President of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky in an interview with TASS noted that exporters did not report problems in obtaining licenses for duty-free grain imports to Turkey. The Russian Agriculture Ministry also does not have information on the imposed quotas, the ministry’s press service told TASS.
Turkey cancelled duty-free imports for Russian agricultural products on March 15. The duty on imports of wheat and corn from Russia is 130%, rice - 45%, beans - 9.7%, sunflower oil - an average of 36%. At the same time, the minimum customs value of the delivered products should reach $1,500 at the current price for sunflower oil of $800 per tonne. In response, Russia has kept the ban on supplies of Turkish tomatoes and cucumbers in effect.
Later, following the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, the parties agreed on lifting trade restrictions.