January 2026 brought a rather interesting surprise in the sphere of Russian-Turkish trade. According to Turkish statistics analyzed by RIA Novosti, exports of chocolate and cocoa products from Turkey to Russia skyrocketed to a historic maximum of 7.4 million dollars. It might seem like just a sweet statistic. But if you dig deeper, the numbers indicate a serious market transformation.
See for yourself: the growth was 34% year-on-year and 19% in just one month (compared to December). What is the reason for such a leap? It doesn’t seem like there’s a critical abundance of specifically Turkish chocolate bars on the shelves. The answer lies in the structure of the exports. The lion’s share of these millions consists of cocoa pastes and cocoa powder. That is, we are not talking about finished treats for the consumer, but about raw materials. Russian confectionery factories, apparently, are actively diversifying their supply chains for basic ingredients, and Turkey is acting as a powerful logistics hub here, replacing the sagging European imports.
In parallel, the Turks are also increasing deliveries of ready-made snacks. The import of flour-based sweets (wafers, cookies) jumped almost twofold, reaching 5.8 million dollars. However, traditional sugary products — marmalade or chewing gum — froze at the usual mark of 2.1 million.
The funniest thing in this situation is the colossal trade imbalance. While Turkey is shipping sweets to us by the trainload, Russian confectioners are selling mere crumbs to the shores of the Bosphorus. Our chocolate exports there amounted to a pitiful 234 thousand dollars, and sugary products — 151 thousand. The Turkish domestic market is strictly protected, and the taste habits of the locals differ greatly from ours, which is why it is frankly difficult for domestic “Alenka” to break through there right now.