Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies
To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade
89
OIC-Turkey agricultural trade relations and intra-OIC agricultural trade
Turkey is one of the major producers and exporters of certain agricultural products in the world
and a major producer-exporter country of agricultural products within the OIC. This export hub
role of Turkey in the OIC is also supported by the network analysis results (COMCEC, 2018b).
Other than Germany and some other EU countries, the US, and countries such as Russia and
Ukraine, the major trading partners include Iraq, Iran, Qatar, Kuwait, and Pakistan.
There is a strong expectation that Turkey’s trade relationships with fellow OIC countries are
likely to be stronger in the near future. Countries that exhibit a strong premise in this respect
are Iran, Iraq, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. These are net importers of agricultural products, and they
therefore are the closest candidates to be a target market for Turkey in the upcoming years.
Other than these four countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Kazakhstan,
Tajikistan and the Western Africa region as a whole are promising partners.
In Malaysia, for instance, there is a sectoral export delegation for intensifying relationships with
Turkey, and Turkey now exports hazelnut to Malaysia with a strong expectation to start
exporting dried fruits in the upcoming years. Turkey’s ability to deliver a relatively large number
of agri-food products is also seen as a key logistic advantage. Russia, for instance, may import
fruits from Poland, vegetables from Spain and fresh green herbs from Italy and Greece. But
Turkey in practice serves a large portion of this Russian market from a single origin.
Establishing close agricultural trade relationships is a clear win-win situation both for Turkey
and for the partner OIC country. Agricultural foreign investments by Turkish businesses in
partner OIC countries are also win-win situations for Turkey and the partner OIC country. Fish
products are particularly interesting in this regard, especially in African countries such as
Morocco and Mauritania. Such investments would benefit the partner countries through
exporting to the EU under a Turkish brand. The general directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Forestry (abbreviated as TAGEM in Turkish) has already purchased a farm in Sudan and
started producing and exporting banana. Turkey and other OIC countries should promote each
other’s high-quality agri-food products in their local markets; Pakistan’s high quality mango and
Turkey’s orange are such products. Directly quoting the informant, “When a truck full of mango
from Pakistan enters Turkey, it should return back to Pakistan full of Turkish oranges!”.
Regional trade agreements within the OIC are assets and would serve as opportunities to
facilitate higher volumes of intra-OIC agricultural trade. The Common Agricultural Policy of the
EU may serve as a sample case for developing trade agreements within the OIC. But some
countries are strategically opposed to such collaboration since they see major agricultural
exporters as threats in their own markets.
One barrier on intra-OIC agricultural trade is geography. The OIC member countries are
scattered over the world with a total of 57 member states located at four continents, i.e., Europe,
Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Despite the fact that there exist many neighboring OIC countries,
the average geographical distance among member states is surely higher than the
corresponding average for the EU, for instance. The exchange of fresh dairy products is
particularly affected from this barrier.
There exist institutional differences across the OIC member countries. Turkey here stands out
as a country among those that have adopted the EU standards in SPS regulations. It may thus be
a challenge for some countries to export agri-food and fish products to Turkey in the short term.
Complying with Turkey’s SPS rules and regulations for require high levels of investment in
laboratories and human resources. Turkey is also among the OIC countries that regulate the
genetically modified products through a partial restriction (COMCEC, 2017b). It goes without