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Reviewing Agricultural Trade Policies

To Promote Intra-OIC Agricultural Trade

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Table 4. 5 Top 5 OIC Destination Countries for Turkey’s Top 5 Export Products

Importer OIC country

Value of agricultural exports

to the country, billion USD,

last 3-year average

% share in total agricultural

exports to the OIC countries,

last 3-year average

Iraq

2.3

43.7

Syria

0.5

8.9

Saudi Arabia

0.4

7.0

Iran

0.2

3.9

Sudan

0.2

3.1

Source: CEPII BACI, Eurostat RAMON, UN Comtrade, UN Trade Statistics, and authors’ calculations

Table 4.6 shows the first 5 markets from which Turkey purchases the highest agricultural

imports in the OIC market. Malaysia is the largest market for Turkey’s top five agricultural

product imports from OIC countries with a share of 24%, followed by Cote d’Ivoire,

Turkmenistan, Indonesia, and Nigeria.

Table 4. 6 Top 5 OIC Origin Countries of Turkey’s Top 5 Import Products

Exporter OIC country

Value of agricultural imports

from the country, billion USD,

last 3-year average

% share in total agricultural

imports from the OIC

countries, last 3-year average

Malaysia

0.4

24.0

Cote d'Ivoire

0.2

15.3

Turkmenistan

0.2

14.1

Indonesia

0.2

12.7

Nigeria

0.1

7.7

Source: CEPII BACI, Eurostat RAMON, UN Comtrade, UN Trade Statistics, and authors’ calculations

4.1.2. Agricultural Trade Policies in Turkey

Background

13

Turkey has signed the Ankara Agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) in

1963. This agreement has had a Customs Union dimension that forced Turkey to gradually

prepare the economy to tariff reductions. The first two rounds of tariff reductions have been

implemented in 1973 and 1976, respectively. After years of negotiations, a Customs Union (CU)

between the EU and Turkey has been put into practice in January 1

st

1996.

The CU covers all manufactured goods, thereby implying the same tariff profiles for these goods

in terms of MFN duties between the EU and Turkey. On the other hand, the CU does not cover

primary agriculture from the very beginning. This allows Turkey to set tariffs higher than the

EU levels in certain products.

As a member of WTO since 1995, Turkey is bound to comply with the framework of the

Agreement on Agriculture. Tariff reductions have been applied since the mid-1990s, and Turkey

has also met commitments in Quantitative Restrictions and reductions in Export Subsidies.

Governments in Turkey have traditionally supported the agricultural sector using various

methods. Before the 2000s, government support purchases and credit subsidies have been

typical instruments, but a more market-oriented policy stance has been followed through the

Agricultural Reform Implementation Project from 2001 to 2008. The GDP share of total

13

Larson et al. (2015), the Turkish Exporters’ Assembly’s 2016 Agricultural Report written by Professors Erol Çakmak and

Haluk Kasnakoğlu, and COMCEC (2014b) are being followed in summarizing the background on agricultural trade policies in

Turkey.