Despite Turkish media recently reporting Russia was set to allow Turkish tomato imports at certain times of the year, a Russian minister has just poured cold water on hopes of this happening anytime soon. 

"Maybe we will allow (Turkish tomato supplies) one day, but definitely not in the nearest years," Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency on Wednesday.

Tkachev previously said Russia was open to discussing partially lifting the ban provided that the move does not harm its own farmers or investors.

The news will come as a major blow to Turkish tomato exporters, who had relied heavily on the Russian market prior to January 2016 when an import ban was imposed.

The ban came about after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet near the Syrian border in 2015, and included a large range of fresh produce items including cherries, table grapes, citrus and tomatoes.

The two countries recently began to "normalize" trade ties and the ban was lifted on numerous produce items but not tomatoes.

Turkish publication Dailysabah recently reported that following talks between the two countries Russia had decided to give the green light to Turkish tomato imports, but only at times when local supplies were low.

Russia has been investing heavily in greenhouse fruit and vegetable production since it implemented a ban on produce imports from the European Union (EU), U.S., Canada, Norway and Australia.

In 2014, Turkey exported US$508 million in tomatoes and cucumbers to Russia, while prior to the embargo, almost half of tomatoes consumed in Russia came from Turkey.

Tomato prices reportedly rose around three-fold in the Russian market following the ban.

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