This year local plums became available on the Moldovan market in mid-July at a wholesale price of about 11 MDL/kg ($ 0.61/kg), which is 1-2 MDL higher than the average price at the start of the season last year. According to the EastFruit monitoring, the wholesale price for early plums in Moldova increased to an average of 12 MDL/kg ($ 0.66/kg) by the end of July 2021, the maximum was 14 MDL/kg ($ 0.77/kg).
Domestic market participants attribute the rise in prices for early plum varieties to three main factors. Firstly, as EastFruit previously reported, the projected 2021 plum harvest is about 20-30% lower than last year.
The second factor is the declining competition for stone fruits in the domestic market. In particular, there are noticeably fewer high-quality apricots on the domestic market; they are sold in retail at a relatively high price – up to 30 MDL/kg ($ 1.66/kg). Accordingly, the price of high-quality large plums is being pulled up to this level.
Finally, plums started being exported to Russia and Romania. The supply volumes are still small. Moreover, mainly the “Chachakskaya early” variety is exported. It was not demanded by traders-exporters in previous years, but this year it is one of the few varieties of early plum that brought good harvest. The domestic market responded to export demand by raising prices.
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