According to Bloomberg, these allegations prompted a Turkish official familiar with the matter to warn, last Thursday, that Ankara does not rule out filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization, while the world’s largest container line warned its customers of the possibility of disruption.
The Turkish agent of AP Moller-Maersk A / S said in an email on September 29 that goods destined for Saudi ports “will be subject to a possible import ban or customs slowdown.”
Bloomberg quoted Kemal Gül, owner of “Gulsan Transport”, a logistics company based near Turkey’s southern border with Syria, that the passage of goods in transit through land has been stopped.
Gul claimed that “the (Corona) epidemic gave the Saudi authorities an excuse to restrict the arrival of Turkish goods,” and continued: “We have not seen such problems with Iran or Iraq, and it seems to me that they will hinder sea transport now.”
Gul, who is considered a board member of the National Transportation Association, added that he receives frequent complaints about this issue from other logistical companies.
In the context, Bloomberg indicated that Saudi Arabia ranks 15th on the list of the largest Turkish export markets, with its sales, led by carpets, textiles, chemicals, grains, furniture and steel, amounting to 1.91 billion dollars in the first eight months of this year, and this represents a decrease of 17% from a year 2019, although some of this decrease is due to the Corona epidemic that struck global trade, however, Saudi statistics show that the value of Turkish imports has already been declining every year since 2015.
The US agency noted that the Customs Administration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not respond to requests for comment via phone or WhatsApp, and the Saudi government’s International Call Center did not immediately respond to the request for comment via e-mail.
However, she pointed out that Turkish products were still available in Saudi Arabia last Thursday, including perishable goods such as milk and meat, explaining that many Saudi businessmen denied the existence of a ban on Turkish imports, although some of them said that they faced significant customs delays. While bringing in goods that are coming in or through Turkey, but they said the slowdown dates back to at least 2019.
Other Saudi companies said that work is going on as usual for them, and Ahmed Saeed, an employee at the Shakra store that sells Turkish-made furniture in Riyadh, said: “We have been hearing these rumors for 3 years and nothing ever happened. We received a shipment last week and all of our shipments arrive on time. “.
Emre Eldner, CEO of Istanbul-based Kita Logistics, said trade tensions increased after Khashoggi’s killing.
He explained: “The export situation has deteriorated in the past few months, and we are now witnessing a systematic policy aimed at intimidating Turkish companies.”
KITA had an office in Saudi Arabia, and Eldner says business was fine for a few years, but after Khashoggi’s murder, Saudi Arabia refused to renew his license there, so the office closed.
However, KITA currently has shipments en route to Saudi Arabia, and “We’ll see how it goes,” said Eldner.
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