Despite the fact that most of the current crop of Moldovan apples has been processed, the next year will be good economically for producers, the head of the Ministry of Agriculture is sure.
For producers of Moldovan fruits and vegetables next year, starting from January, will be profitable, such an opinion was expressed by the Minister of Agriculture Vladimir Bolya on the air of one of the domestic TV channels.
He noted that although most of the apple harvest this year went to processing, producers will be able to profitably sell those volumes that are stored in refrigerators, since the export of this type of product traditionally begins in January.
“Given that in Poland, Romania and in general in Europe there was also a drought and the harvest of apples was about 35-40 percent less, for some reason I hope that prices will be much higher from January. (…) It will be more profitable to sell (…) I’m sure this year will be very good for fruit and vegetable producers,” the minister said.
According to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, in 2022 the apple harvest in Moldova did not reach half a million tons.
“I spoke with the major producers of our apples in Moldova, at the moment we have 105,000 tons of apples in our warehouses, 150,000 tons of apples have been stored in refrigerators, the rest for processing into juice. This year we have a harvest of about 440,000 tons,” Bol said.
The Minister spoke about the main directions of export of Moldovan apples. According to him, Moldovan farmers have become less sold to Russia:
“For October, if compared to 2021, I can make a mistake in the percentage, but not by much, in October we exported about 17,000 tons in 2021, and about 7,000 tons in this.”
At the same time, exports to Egypt “started”. However, taxation “bites”:
“We have a high taxation, in my opinion, we do not have a trade agreement with Egypt. When importing apples from Moldova, 40% of the invoice is subject to customs duty. (…) Export is carried in containers through the port of Constanta.”
As for the European Union, despite the doubled quota for the supply of Moldovan apples this year, the volumes do not even reach the initial one – 40,000 tons.
“We had 40,000 tons, now we have 80,000 tons. In 2021, we exported 1,100 tons, this year there were already more than 12,000 tons of exports, there is a constant growth. But there are requirements for some positions of apples, especially with regard to varieties,” Vladimir Bolya specified.
He stressed that the quality of apples in Moldova is very good, while there are varieties that are initially oriented to the Russian market, and there are those that are in demand in Europe and other countries of the world.
On August 15, 2022, the Rosselkhoznadzor introduced temporary restrictions on the import of regulated products from 31 regions of Moldova, as well as the ATU of Gagauzia and the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti. The reason was the systematic detection of quarantine objects for the EAEU member countries in vegetables and fruits coming from 34 regions of the republic.
Since the end of November, the Russian phytosanitary department has gradually begun to open the market for Moldovan agricultural products, currently 53 companies from Moldova are allowed to export to Russia.
