Experts advise switching to watermelons and melons
Ankara has sharply reduced the supply of citrus fruits to our country. This is evidenced by official data on bilateral trade between Russia and Turkey. Thus, in May of this year, the total import volumes of tangerines, oranges and lemons fell by half — to 5.6 thousand tons. It is clear that it is impossible to “replace” these losses with imports, which immediately gives rise to fears about whether we will face a shortage of these favorite products on the shelves and whether their already rather high prices will skyrocket.
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In annual terms, the dynamics of the decline in imports looks completely catastrophic. Strongest of all — 14 times! — supplies of oranges from Turkey decreased to 77 tons. The volume of imports of tangerines also dropped significantly — by 6.5 times, and purchases of lemons fell three times, to 2.2 thousand tons.
What happened: Russia sharply reduced the import of citrus fruits from Turkey or, conversely, Has Ankara reduced its sales to Moscow?
As you know, relations between the two countries have not been cloudless recently. Therefore, both options are possible. Although Turkish leader Erdogan previously stated that he wants to increase trade turnover with Russia to $100 billion per year. Today this figure is almost half as much.
It is possible that the recent meeting of the heads of the two countries will help resolve the accumulated bilateral trade problems, including the supply of citrus fruits.
But for now, here it is: the shelves of retail chains, where previously there was a wide selection of tangerines and oranges, have become poorer, and the prices for these fruits are correspondingly higher. When preparing this material, we visited three large chain stores and did not see tangerines in any of them. It is clear that it is not the season, but until recently this did not bother anyone. Like all other fruits and vegetables, citrus fruits were on the shelves almost all year round. The only difference was in the range, quality and price. But now there are none at all, and judging by the dissatisfied reaction of buyers, many are not happy about this: tangerines are needed not only for the New Year's table…
Lemons are sold at 134 rubles per kilogram or 89 for two pieces . Oranges cost 168-180 rubles per kilo, grapefruits 143-157…
As you know, oranges rose in price the most in 2023 – by 71%. Then there was a real orange anomaly. “Before that” they cost about 100 rubles, and “after that” they were already over 200.
As we can see, today they have even become slightly cheaper compared to the previous year. But not by much, because we remember that back in 2022 they could be bought for 60 rubles per kilogram; Russian apples were more expensive then.
Meanwhile, Rusprodsoyuz clarifies that the main supplier of tangerines to Russia is Turkey.
“It accounts for more than 50% of imports,” says Dmitry Leonov, deputy chairman of the association’s board. – Other countries that also participate in the supply of these fruits – Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and Pakistan – have relatively small volumes. Lemons come to us from Turkey, South Africa and Argentina.
“Over the past week,” he continues, “there has been an increase in wholesale prices for lemons by 2.1%, the cost of oranges and tangerines decreased by 0.8% — by 0.5%. Over the month, prices for lemons increased by 0.6%.
But changes in wholesale prices are not always immediately reflected on the shelves.
Deputy Executive Director of the Russian Association of Market Retail Experts Shamil Magomedov told us, that Turkey is, of course, a major player in the citrus market. But not the only one and, most importantly, not the cheapest.
“Egypt, Pakistan and Morocco are important partners for us,” he says. — We are increasing purchases from these countries; by the way, prices for citrus fruits there for the mass consumer are lower than in Turkey.
— I believe, within the limits of inflation. But not because of the deficit, but because of exchange rate fluctuations. We expect price increases for premium citrus fruits from Turkey. For example, blood orange. In general, for elite citrus fruits. This will not affect the mass buyer. Citrus fruits are stored for a long time, we have reserves. In addition, now is not the season for them, they fade into the background. Russians are switching to domestically produced fruits: watermelons, melons. Türkiye is important today as a supplier of perishable goods: strawberries, peaches, nectarines. Here, large volumes of deliveries and failures practically do not happen. In addition, Türkiye is close to Russia. As for citrus fruits, the demand for them will return in October-November, and there is no doubt that then the shelves will be filled with them.
…In general, it turns out that it is more beneficial for Russians today to switch to watermelons and melons. But tangerines and oranges will not escape us; they will remind us of themselves before the New Year. But at what price?