Turkish exporters have reported increasing obstacles to trade in Saudi Arabia, amid calls for bans on Turkish imports and as ties between the two countries deteriorate.
The Turkish exporters’ union said Saudi Arabia formally suspended imports of meat, eggs and other products from Turkey earlier this month.
Ankara says it has been told by Riyadh that there is no formal boycott, but the exporters’ union said it had been informed by Turkey’s trade ministry that imports of some Turkish goods had been suspended earlier this month.
Turkey’s Exporters Assembly says exports to Saudi Arabia fell 16% in the first 10 months of this year to $2.23 billion.
Turkey’s Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said this week that Riyadh insisted there was no official boycott of Turkish goods – something Ankara could formally challenge through the World Trade Organisation.
Already strained by competing ambitions for regional influence, those relations plunged into crisis two years ago when Saudi agents killed prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
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