Uzbekistan triples export of tomatoes to Russia

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

Russia increased imports of tomatoes from Uzbekistan in the first half of this year.

This year Russia has significantly increased imports of tomatoes to about 410,000 tons, which is 17 percent more than in the same period of 2017.

At the same time, Uzbekistan distinguished itself as one of the most significant contributions to the growth of supplies. The country increased the export of fresh tomatoes to Russia by three times during the reporting period.

For the first six months of 2018, as many as 14,500 tons of Uzbek tomatoes reached the Russian market. This amount accounts for about 3.5 percent of total imports of these products to the country. A year earlier, Uzbekistan's share in the supply of tomatoes to the Russian market in the first half of the year was 1.3 percent.

According to East-Fruit analysts, the main advantage of Uzbekistan is the opportunity to supply inexpensive tomatoes from unheated greenhouses covered with film already in May, when the prices for tomato in Russia are still very high. At this time, there is a local tomato from heated greenhouses, as well as greenhouse products from Turkey, Iran, Morocco and Armenia in the Russian market.

It should be noted that, on an equal basis with Uzbekistan, Iran is actively expanding its presence in the Russian market of fresh tomatoes, as the Islamic Republic increased shipments 4.6 times in the reporting period and delivered about 32,200 tons of greenhouse tomatoes to Russia. In fact, according to market participants, the volume of supply of greenhouse tomatoes from Iran is much higher, as part of this product passes the re-export phase through Azerbaijan and already appears in Russia as products from Azerbaijan.

In addition to Azerbaijan and Iran, such countries as China, Morocco, Turkey, Belarus were among the leaders in the export of fresh greenhouse tomatoes to Russia in the first half of 2018. Moreover, the growth of supplies to the Russian market of greenhouse tomatoes from Turkmenistan should also be noted.