Conflict Between Russia And Ukraine

With the continuous conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the merchants on the textile and leather export street in Istanbul, Turkey, have also been greatly impacted. Since their main customers are from Russia and Ukraine, within a week of the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, merchants from Russia and Ukraine cancelled about 200 million US dollars (about RMB 1.3 billion yuan), and some small businesses are facing the crisis of bankruptcy.

Ali, who has been engaged in leather export trade for nearly 20 years, has recently fallen into the biggest predicament since its employment. Since more than 60% of his customers are from Russia and Ukraine, the business of the shop has plummeted since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Ali, owner of Istanbul leather store, Turkey: in the past, we could sell at least 150 leather jackets a week. Now we can sell up to 10 leather jackets a week, sometimes even 5.

Ali said their business with Ukraine has come to a complete standstill. Orders from Russian customers are affected by the situation in Russia and Ukraine, and also encounter serious logistics problems. Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the number of tourists from these two countries has dropped sharply, resulting in the poor business of individual tourists.

Because it is located in the golden section of textile leather street, Ali's shop rents about 13000 yuan a month. But business is so bleak at the moment, Ali said he didn't know how long he could support it. Ali's plight is only a microcosm of nearly 7000 shops in the street.

Laereli district is a famous textile leather street in Istanbul. Its products are mainly exported to Russia, Ukraine and Eastern European countries. Before the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the annual trade volume between laereli and Russia was close to 700 million to 800 million US dollars, about 4.4 billion to 5 billion yuan. The annual trade volume with Ukraine also reached 100 million US dollars to 140 million US dollars, about 600 million to 900 million yuan.

Reporter Chen Huihui: after one day's visit, we found that the trade between the merchants in this street and Ukraine is basically in a state of complete stagnation. However, with the continuous promotion of the local currency settlement method of trade between Turkey and Russia, the trade between many local businesses and Russia is gradually recovering.

As early as October 2019, Turkey and Russia signed a free trade agreement, allowing the two countries to trade in local currencies.

Astaineyupkocha, head of the industrial and Commercial Association of larelli District, Istanbul, Turkey: at present, the Russian Ruble can enter Turkey through the Turkish bank. There is no problem. In addition, the exchange rate of the Russian ruble is now stabilizing.

Although there are some positive signs of trade with Russia, Mr. eyupkovcha said the volume of trade has fallen sharply. Moreover, the current Russian Ukrainian crisis continues, and the regional situation is full of various uncertainties. Businessmen are worried. They do not know when the Russian Ukrainian conflict will end and when the former prosperity of the textile and leather Street will reappear.