According to the customs service of the Republic of Moldova, the exports of apples in February 2023 amounted to just over 14 000 tonnes. The February exports of Moldovan apples are usually equal to or slightly lower than the January ones. Fruit market operators explain this by the fact that there are fewer days in February. Winter exports in 2023 were no exception; about 15 000 tonnes of apples were exported from Moldova last month, EastFruit reports.
The difference is that over the past six years, Moldova exported less than 25 000 tonnes of apples in February only twice: in 2023 and 2021 (14 500 tonnes). By the way, in both years, farmers and traders were dissatisfied with prices – purchase prices (in the domestic market) and sales prices (in foreign markets). But this year, market analysts also associate low apple exports with a low harvest in 2022 (about 400 000 tonnes, about 40% less than in the previous year).
Another feature is that in February 2023, the share of the CIS countries in the export volume of Moldovan apples was only 81%, and the share of the Russian market was about 40% for the first time in many years. Even last year, this figure rarely fell slightly below 90%.
At the same time, representatives of fruit-growing organizations consider it encouraging that 1 400 tonnes of Moldovan apples were sent to the Romanian market in February. Last year, they reached more than 1 000 tonnes per month only in spring and summer. In addition, about 1 200 tonnes of apples were exported to the countries of the Middle East and Africa in February.
For more information: east-fruit.com