According to a statement made by Rosselhoznadzor, shipment of tomatoes and peppers from Antalya and Izmir was banned. As the justification for the decision, it was shown that the tomatoes contained rugose virus, tomato spotted wilt virus and pepino mosaic virus, all of which were brought in from these two specific regions. During the decision making, it was taken into account that these viruses pose a great threat.
Following the quarantine measures taken as a result of the detection of viruses, pepino mosaic virus was detected nine times, tomato spotted wilt and rugose virus were detected in the products once.
As a result of the meetings held with the General Directorate of Food and Control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, it was agreed that the Turkish side would provide detailed information regarding the investigation carried out for each violation, as well as the measures taken. For now, this means Russia has banned all tomatoes and peppers import from Turkey as of Tuesday the 8th of December, according to our sources. It could have a big impact on the prices of these products.
According to the data of the Aegean Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Union, 198,739 tons of tomatoes were shipped to Russia from 1 November 2017 to the end of November this year, over a quota of 200 thousand tons.
According to the data of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, the shipment amount was 187,012 tons. The ministry plans to re-evaluate the quota issue after it is fully filled.
Source: Sputniknews