Russia's Agriculture Ministry is planning to double the quota on tomato imports from Turkey to 100,000 tons a year, the Interfax news agency reported Saturday, citing a draft decree.
Russia, which is Turkey's largest market for tomatoes, halted imports due to a crisis that began after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet for violating its airspace in November 2015.
In January 2016, Russia banned imports of Turkish fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes, oranges, apples, apricots, cabbage, broccoli, mandarins, pears, peaches, cucumbers, plums, strawberries, onions and cloves. It also banned the imports of poultry and related products.
However, Russia relaxed the trade sanctions on Turkey during the summer of 2017. It lifted a ban on vegetable imports from Turkey in November 2017 after a rapprochement between the two countries and Russia agreed to import up to 50,000 tons of Turkish tomatoes annually.
