In case if the traditional partners of Turkey apply sanctions against the country, and freeze foreign supplies of grains, Ukraine is ready to increase its delivery of grains, corn and vegetable oils in the reporting direction in two times at least, declared the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Oleksiy Pavlenko on his Facebook page on November 27.
According to him, Turkey is the long-standing and reliable partner of Ukraine, and Ukraine is ready to act as a guarantor of food security for the country.
Therefore, Ukraine will be able to replace Russia on the Turkish market. Whatever the Russian decision may be, it should not affect the food security of Turkey. Ukraine has enough products of suitable quality to meet the needs of Turkish consumers in case of imposition of any export restrictions by the Russian Federation, informed the Minister.
O.Pavlenko said that during 10 months of 2015, Ukraine already exported agricultural products to Turkey at the sum of nearly 566 mln USD, including grains - over 55 mln USD, vegetable oils - nearly 75 mln USD. In case of possible refusal of Russia to supply food products to Turkey, Ukraine may significantly increase the reporting indices at the expense of additional supplies of wheat, corn, barley, pulses, vegetable oil, etc.
“Obviously, today it is too early to talk about the changes in trade turnover between Turkey and Ukraine, but we are ready for extended bilateral cooperation in agriculture. The expansion and diversification of export markets are the priorities for Ukraine while Turkey is a perspective trade partner,” O.Pavlenko noted.
