Apples vs grapes: the competition for storage facilities will grow in Moldova

Owners of high-tech storage facilities are renting out areas for storing fruits in Moldova foresee a sharp rise in the price of this service in the near future. Alongside with this the competition for storage facilities between apple and grape growers will intensify.

According to the heads of agricultural and trade enterprises, the tariff for the service of storing fruit in refrigerators in the country has remained stable for many years – about 1-1.5 MDL/kg ($0.06-0.09/kg) average. As a rule, inflation was not included in the tariff, although it has sometimes been huge in the last five to seven years. At the same time, the service fee was one-time and fixed in most cases, regardless of the shelf life of the product. Such a tariff policy on the Moldovan fruit market was possible for a number of reasons, not the least of them being stable and relatively low electricity costs.

The situation is changing. Following the rise in prices for gas and other energy resources, electricity tariffs will increase as well. Thus, it can be assumed that owners will try to rent free room in storage facilities for relatively expensive products for a short period. At the moment these are high-quality table grapes for export.

According to the EastFruit monitoring, the average wholesale price for grapes of the main export variety “Moldova” on the Moldovan market in October ranges from 10-11 MDL/kg ($0.57-0.63/kg). For comparison: the average wholesale price for the most expensive Moldovan apples – Gala clones – this month did not rise above 6 MDL/kg ($0.34/kg). It still should be mentioned that some traders exported them at about 8 MDL/kg ($0.46/kg).

Meanwhile, according to expert forecasts, about 35-40 thousand tons of grapes will be stored out of the estimated grape harvest of 100 thousand tons this year, and about 240-280 thousand tons of apples from the 2021 harvest in 600 thousand tons.