Turkey has become a country that, against the backdrop of all the latest geopolitical events, not only has not severed trade ties with Russia, but, on the contrary, has strengthened them.
Turkish exports to Russia reached a record value in 2022.
In general, the volume of sales of Turkish goods in the Russian Federation reached the level of 254 billion dollars.
In many ways, this was made possible due to the following:
The depreciation of the Turkish lira made the goods of this country very competitive abroad. The fall was largely due to the policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, despite record inflation, approved the Central Bank’s strategy to further reduce the key rate.
The sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries have largely limited trade between them and the Russian Federation. As a result, Turkish goods were able to partially fill the resulting niche.
Turkey has its own economy in the first place
Being a member of NATO, this country did not support anti-Russian sanctions.
At the same time, she tries not to support either side in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict — or support both.
For example, last summer Erdogan did much to facilitate a grain deal that would allow grain from blocked Ukrainian ports to reach the world market, just like grain from Russia.
Such a skillful dual position allowed Turkey to simultaneously increase trade with Russia.
For example, in June, Turkish imports to Russia increased by 52% compared to June 2021.
This was largely due to the growth in the import of fruits and nuts into our country: the rate of their import to the Russian Federation increased by 48%.
In addition, Turkey has become one of the leading suppliers of auto parts — it is possible that it is not of its own production.
As for exports from the Russian Federation to Turkey, 60% of its structure was oil and gas. And again, it is not a fact that Turkey acquires them “for its own use”, and does not resell them further.
Turkey to become Russia’s largest supplier?
In 2021, she had nothing to dream about, but in connection with all the events of 2022, such an opportunity appears.
Since Western countries have sharply reduced interaction with the Russian Federation, Turkey has risen several points at once in the list of leading suppliers of goods to Russia, bypassing Italy, Poland, Japan, the Netherlands, France, the United States and a number of other countries.
As a result, it is possible that Turkey will take the “honorable” 5th place in terms of supplies for the entire 2022 after China, Belarus, Germany and Kazakhstan.
