In 2024 Moldova began active exports of fresh apples to one of the most attractive fresh apple markets in the world – India. Moldova, despite a relatively low yield of apples in 2023, was struggling with selling its stocks as Russia banned imports of fruits and other food items from this country.
Interestingly, Moldova shipped apples to India in each of the months of 2024. Total shipments during the first four months of 2024 reached 216 tons reports east-fruit.com . Although this is a relatively small volume, prices for apples paid by importers from to India were much more attractive than these from the buyers in Russia, even despite more complex logistics and higher quality requirements.
Moreover, India, unlike Russia, has very good demographics and rapid economic growth and it is a much more reliable buyer than Russia, which keeps restricting market access to countries without any reason and warning. India, on the other hand, is one of the largest global importers of fresh apples. You can read more about the fresh apple market in India in this article.
Let us remind you that until today Ukraine was unable to obtain permission from India to supply fresh apples to its market. Therefore, Ukrainian apples are now supplied to India through Turkey and the UAE. The advantages of Ukrainian apples are high quality and excellent coloring, which is quite important for success in the Indian market.
The leaders in terms of apple export volumes to India are Iran and Türkiye, which account for more than half of all supplies. On average, these countries export 10-15 thousand tons of fresh apples to India per month, and in peak months – up to 30 thousand tons. Therefore, undoubtedly, there is a good potential in Indian market for Moldova but in order to realize it, the country needs to work on improving the quality of apples.
Source: east-fruit.com