Moldova Fruct consists of 180 growers producing apples, plums, grapes, cherries, peaches and apricots, the main export markets are Russia Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Hungary with the recent addition of The Netherlands, Germany and Austria.
“In 2014 Moldovia secured a free trade agreement with the EU and the export of fruit really took off, even after the upper limits of the volumes of fruit have been reached and tax must be paid it is still sometimes profitable for exporters to send fruit to Europe,” according to Iurie Fala, Executive Director of Moldova Fruct.
“The EU is still discovering the high quality of Moldavan fruit, our growers grow to all of the required standards. The strong point of our produce is the taste, we use the strapline ‘Moldova – taste makes the difference’. The exceptional taste is due to our soil and climate, we have harsh winters and hot summers this range of temperatures give the fruit extra sweetness and good colour.”
The apple acreage is now stabilising but yields are continuing to increase due to better, more modern growing methods. The stone fruit acreages are still increasing.
As with other countries the input costs are increasing in Moldovia, where they also have competition for labour as people leave to work in European countries. The raw material costs are going up too.
“We are not producing cheap fruit, we are producing quality fruit. If you want to produce quality fruit the input costs are high.”
For more information:
Iurie Fala
Moldova Fruct
ifala@moldovafruct.md
Tel: +373 693 66 424