According to statistics, in 2021, Turkey purchased agricultural products from Russia in the amount of $4.3 billion.
This is 38% higher than a year ago.
If we talk about imports in real terms, then it amounted to 13 million tons. This is even more than China bought from Russia over the same period of time.
As a result, Turkey accounted for 12% of Russian food exports.
What agricultural products does Turkey buy?
First, wheat. Turkey was the leader in terms of wheat purchases from Russia in 2019, 2021 and 2021.
Over the past year, she bought 6.7 million tons of wheat. Although this is 15% less in volume than a year earlier, however, in monetary terms, we are dealing with an increase of 6.9%, to $18 billion.
This growth is associated with a significant increase in food prices on the world market, which took place last year.
Secondly, Turkey is actively importing vegetable oil from Russia. It is also the largest importer in this direction. Last year, oil supplies increased by 42% in physical terms, to 913,000 tons.
If we look at the volume of proceeds from the sale of butter, it grew 2.5 times and amounted to $1.1 billion.
Interestingly, in 2020, sunflower seeds were the most important item of Turkish imports from Russia, but in 2021, sunflower seeds imports decreased significantly.
This was due to the many restrictive measures that Russia introduced to stimulate sunflower processing on its own territory.
In addition, Turkey ranks first in imports of Russian barley. Over the past year, volumes increased 3.1 times, to 1.2 million tons, and in monetary terms, 4.2 times, to $309 million.
Turkish corn imports also rose to 1.1 million tons, which is 69%. In monetary terms, this is a 2.3-fold increase: up to $263 million.
What are the prospects for Turkish imports of Russian agricultural products?
According to Agroexport, the prospects are good: by 2030, Turkish imports of agricultural products can bring Russia up to $5 billion a year.
At the same time, there is competition in this market.
For example, in 2021, Ukraine increased imports to Turkey, where record harvests were collected.
Moreover, for the first time in 10 years there were deliveries from Argentina, where the harvest was also very good.
Nevertheless, the Russian Federation still remains the leader in the supply of agricultural products to Turkey and holds a 20% share in its imports.
In the last six months of 2021, the volume of imports to Turkey decreased slightly due to the devaluation of the Turkish lira. But in general, agricultural exports to this country should only develop.
