Comparative examination of grain and fresh fruit and vegetable trade between Turkey and Russia

Trade is inevitable for agricultural products markets as in all markets in meeting demand. Turkey's fresh fruits and vegetables export to Russia and Russia's grain exports to Turkey were analysed within this study departing from Keynesian comparative advantages approach. Trade balances of two countries in the product groups were set forwards as a zero-sum game, with the assumption that these countries only trade with each other. Secondary data for 2016-2020 years were used and statistical interpolation between periods was utilised. The trade balance between Turkey and Russia was evaluated using the perfect Nash equilibrium retrieved at the end of the game as a model. It was seen at the end of the study that Turkey has been superior to Russia in fresh fruits and vegetables trade and one unit of fresh fruit and vegetable product has been equal to one unit of grain on average. The reason for this situation is the high level of autonomous investment values in Russia compared to Turkey and the depreciation of the Turkish Lira against other currencies. For increasing this superiority and making it sustainable, it is important to raise the production of cereals and fresh fruits and vegetables, to give importance to R & D studies together with innovation and to reduce the labour by spreading mechanization in production.