On Tuesday, September 10, a modern stone fruit packaging and sorting facility was officialy inaugurated in Niscani, a village 30 km northwest of the Moldovian capital of Chisinau. The country's Secretary of State for Agriculture and anyone who has anything to do with Moldova's stone fruit sector were there. This facility has a vital purpose: to become a logistics hub for growers and exporters from the wider region. The initiative comes from PDG Fruct, a company founded and run by young, related entrepreneurs.
The new sorting and packaging line in PDG Fruct's packing station
"It was 2017," begins marketing director Zinaida Plamadeala. "My brother Dumitru, who, by then, had already gained some experience in horticulture, suggested to my sister Ludmila, an accountant, and me that we set up a company together. Our father is an economist, so investing and entrepreneurship were familiar words to us. We set up a plum orchard, we established together with four other producers a strawberry cooperative, Berries Group, and along with co-founder Alexandru Lozovan we started the company PDG Fruct."
Bank loan
At that time, plums were still cheap in Moldova, and the area boasted many small-scale plum orchards. "However, refrigeration, sorting, and packaging facilities were lacking. So, we came up with the idea of building a packing facility to provide those services to regional growers. Much to our surprise, the bank approved our business plan, and we got a loan. Construction was completed in the spring of 2017, and by the fall of the same year, we were certified," says Zinaida.
Zinaida Plamadeala showing plums in punnets ready for export
While waiting for the young plum trees to become productive, they leased out the building's storage space and offered packaging services. Even in 2024, services to other growers still account for 30% of the plant's revenue. "When we started harvesting plums, we set our sights on the EU market from the get-go. Other growers' experience showed us that exports to Russia were too fickle. Sometimes it was good, but just as often it was dismal."
Modernization
"Our aim was long-term partnerships with fixed clients, even though, in the early days, we first supplied exporters that came to collect their wares. Then we made contacts at trade fairs, and now we supply some European retailers directly with plums. It has, however, not all been moonshine and roses. We packed our fruit manually in wooden crates, so couldn't always deliver uniform quality. So, profit margins were rather small and, a few years ago, Moldova's reputation on the international market was anything but solid," explains Zinaida.
Good reason to take a huge step forward and begin modernizing. "We, thus, invested in a modern Unitec sorting line and Sormac packaging line. Sorting is now done by size, color, and both external and internal defects. Manual sorting often had a too-high error rate, the capacity too small, and the labor issue was also at times a difficult puzzle to solve."
Uniform product
All those problems have now been addressed. And in a year like the current one where, due to the weather, the quality of the fruit on the trees somewhat disappoints, optical sorting guarantees a uniform product. "The semi-automatic packing line also means each punnett contains the correct weight," the marketing director says. With about 80 1 kg punnets per minute, the capacity at PDG Fruct - almost five tons/hour - is double that of manual packaging.
By now, this young company harvests some 1,000 tons of Stanley plums annually. "Our own cultivation ensures the packing station doesn't lie idle. Plus, we still pack for other growers and exporters. Those collaborations add value to the region's stone fruit growing because exports demand high quality standards, which we can meet, thanks to these modern facilities. We market our plums in Poland, Italy, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland."
Blossoming plum orchard belonging to PDG Fruct
Organic growth
Of PDG Fruct's two activities, cultivation is the least profitable, so the company plans to expand mainly its cooling, sorting, and packaging services. "After this year's solid investment, we foresee organic growth in parallel with the needs of increasingly professional growers in the area. We can, of course, not be blind to some challenges either, like attracting qualified workers, since the new sorting and packaging line, though modern and precise, is not fully automatic. Many valuable workers, even entire families, have moved away from the countryside in recent years, often abroad," Zinaida points out.
PDG Fruct is GlobalGAP and GRASP certified and is currently implementing IFS. The premises include two pre-cooling rooms with a capacity of 20 tons, long-storage refrigeration capacity of 1,500 tons, an optical sorting line, and semi-automatic packing line for stone fruit. The line, suitable for apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums, runs from May through November. "Since solar panels cover our building's entire roof, the cooling area is powered by clean energy. We have put up four wind turbines in the surrounding villages, too, further evidence of our focus on sustainability. You see, we love entrepreneurship. Our father sometimes says: if I'd known 30 years ago that I'd have such enterprising children, it certainly wouldn't have been just three," concludes Zinaida, laughing.
Solar panels on the roof of PDG Fruct's packing station
PDG Fruct will be at the upcoming Fruit Attraction in Madrid. You can find the company at the Moldova Fruct branch organization's joint stand, 10D18.
For more information:
Zinaida Plamadeala (Marketing Director)
PDG Fruct Ltd
Pitușca, Călărași, MD4432 – Moldova
Mob: +373 69748665
[email protected]
www.pdgfruits.com