The Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova has stated that, in January-February 2021, about 28,000 mt of apples were exported from the country. In the same period last year, Moldovan apple export volumes were significantly higher, at almost 54,000 mt.
According to the local organizations of agricultural producers and exporters, in the first half of March 2021, the export of apples to the main markets (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan) has not yet intensified. But the prices started to rise – on average by 0.5-1.5 MDL/kg.
Based on the monitoring of EastFruit, by the beginning of this week, wholesale prices for apples of the Renet Simirenko and Idared varieties ranged from 8.5-11.5 MDL / kg ($0.48-0.65/kg), “Golden Delicious”, “Jonagold” and “Granny Smith”- 10.0-12.5 MDL ($0.57-0.71/kg).
How this situation will develop in April is not yet clear. Optimists believe that in April the Russian stocks of apples will finally run out. Instead of importing Polish and Ukrainian apples through risky channels, Russian traders will consider it a safer option to legally import Moldovan apples of comparable (or, in extreme cases, marginally inferior) quality at a slightly higher price.
Something similar happened last year, when in April supplies of apples from Moldova to Russia increased by 10 thousand mt compared to the previous month – to almost 39 thousand mt. Although in some of the past 5 years, March was the month with the highest export volumes for the Moldovan Apples.