Representatives of Moldovan agricultural producers’ organizations note the growing activity of apple exporters to Russia. Since the beginning of December, the number of large agricultural and trading enterprises that have started shipping high-quality red apples from refrigerators to the Russian market has been gradually increasing. Thus, it is likely that by the end of December, the total volume of Moldovan apple exports will exceed the volumes for October and November 2020, which was 6,000-7,000 tons. However, it is unlikely that it will come close to 17,000-20,000 tons, which were the December indicators of the previous two years.
Wholesale prices for apples in Moldova have been stable since mid-November. Moreover, prices for low-quality apples of some varieties like Reinette Simirenko or Idared are decreasing. This process continued last week: the level of minimum prices dropped by 1 lei/kg to 7-8 lei/kg ($0.42-0.48/kg). Therefore, there was no basis for increasing export supplies.
On the other hand, Moldovan exporters claim that recently Russian buyers, namely wholesalers supplying supermarket chains, have been sending them requests for relatively small volumes of high-quality apples of certain varieties (e.g., Gala, Red Chief, etc.). This may be related to the revival in the Moldovan market, which, however, has not yet led to an increase in prices for apples, established in late November – early December.
Besides, one of the possible reasons for the intensification of supplies of Moldovan apples to the Russian market, as market operators say, can be the “Russian trend for restrictions”. The recent ban on apple imports from Azerbaijan did not go unnoticed. Moldovan exporters and their Russian partners may be trying to take advantage of the situation.
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