Over two years have passed since Turkey shot down a Russian jet in November 2015. The event triggered a major crisis as Moscow responded with a string of economic sanctions. Since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's apology in June 2016, the relationship between Turkey and Russia has notably improved: Russian tourists are returning to Turkish resorts, visa requirements for Turkish businesspeople have been lifted and bilateral trade is on the rise.

Among the restrictions that Russia imposed on fruits and vegetables from Turkey, the ban on tomatoes lasted the longest, with the tomato becoming a symbol of the crisis. Even after frequent bilateral meetings, Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin still could not agree on the tomato issue. Russian officials argued that the ban remained in place to encourage domestic producers, although Turkish tomatoes reportedly continued to make their way to Russia indirectly, via third countries.

Yet, ahead of the second anniversary of the plane crisis, Moscow finally lifted the tomato ban. On Nov. 10, a company in the Aegean province of Izmir exported its first shipment of tomatoes to Russia under a contract for 5,000 tons. The resumption of the tomato trade was greeted with joy in Turkey as a sign that the crisis was over. The Turkish producer who dispatched the first shipment put the price at $1.50 per kilogram (68 US cents a pound). The producer said that last year, when Turkish tomatoes were banned from the Russian markets, tomato prices had even reached $30 per kilogram in Russia.

However, while Russian consumers may now enjoy cheaper tomatoes, tomato prices for Turkish consumers are on the rise.