Ukraine and Turkey have agreed on a free trade zone; what should the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable business be afraid of?

Published 2022년 2월 7일

Tridge summary

A free trade zone agreement between Ukraine and Turkey, signed on February 3, 2022, in Kiev, marks the end of a 15-year-long negotiation. This agreement has sparked concerns among Ukrainian fruit and vegetable producers about their competitiveness, as Turkey currently supplies 30% of Ukraine's imported fruits and vegetables, primarily citrus fruits, greenhouse tomatoes, and table grapes. These imports are duty-free, while Ukrainian greenhouse vegetables like cucumbers and tomatoes face a 10% import duty, which is likely to be removed under the agreement. The potential removal of duties could increase competition for Ukrainian greenhouse growers, who already face high energy costs and pressure from the devaluation of the Turkish lira.

Disclaimer:The above summary was generated by Tridge's proprietary AI model for informational purposes.

Original content

The epic of agreeing on a free trade zone between Ukraine and Turkey, 15 years long, ended on February 3, 2022 with the signing of an FTA agreement in Kiev. This news seriously stirred up the fruit and vegetable business of Ukraine, many representatives of which expressed fears that Ukrainian vegetables and fruits would no longer be able to compete with Turkish ones. EastFruit experts decided to find out whether these fears are justified, and also to understand whether there will be any benefits for Ukraine in this agreement? So, for starters, let's figure out what the trade in vegetables and fruits between Ukraine and Turkey looks like now. With export from Ukraine to Turkey, everything is extremely simple - Ukraine exports to Turkey from fruit and vegetable products, in fact, only walnuts, and even then, serious problems have arisen with this export in the last year and a half. However, we will talk about this below. Also, from time to time, Ukraine exports to Turkey onions, ...

Source: Eastfruit