Wholesale prices for plums in Moldova fell from an average of 10 to 7 MDL/kg ($0.52-0.37/kg) last week. This is the lowest price level at the end of July over the past 3 years (the price during this period in 2021 was 42% higher, in 2020 – by 33%). The forecast for the short term is negative: most likely, the average wholesale price for Moldovan plums will slowly decrease in August, or, at best, stabilize by the middle of the month at a level lower by 1-2 MDL/kg.
Participants in the country’s fruit market believe that the situation will develop “like in dry 2020.” Then there was a collapse in prices for plums of summer varieties too, but a week later than this year. Wholesale prices remained at a consistently low level throughout August and started increasing only in the beginning of September.
The difference is that unlike in 2020, the harvest of early plums in 2022 is large, and their supply from agricultural producers is very active. There is also demand for plums from traders and processors, but the prices they offer are quite low.
According to exporters, current wholesale prices for plums in the Russian market are relatively low – $0.58-0.60/kg. Despite the slightly reduced costs for the services of transport companies by the end of July, such a price ceiling leaves Moldovan growers and merchants too little space for profitable work. And on the European market, Moldovan exporters have to “dive” under this level of wholesale prices ($0.41-0.43/kg) for plums from Ukraine and Poland. Even in Romania, Moldovan plums must compete with similar local products, often of the same varieties, as well as with plums from Serbia. Representatives of Moldovan organizations of agricultural producers believe that this will last until September, when the mass exports of plums from Moldova to Romania traditionally begin.
In the domestic fresh market of Moldova, retail prices for plums are still in a relatively high and wide range – 12-18 MDL/kg ($0.62-0.94/kg). It is likely that the picture will change little until the end of the month, at least due to the wide variety of goods offered in terms of varieties and quality (caliber).
Moldovan processors accept summer plums without quantity restrictions (apparently, assuming that the harvest of autumn plums, especially late varieties, will be much lower than last year and the average five-year level – 110 000 tonnes). However, the current level of purchase prices for industrial plums of the 2022 crop (about 2.2 MDL/kg) in farms is still much lower than the maximum level in the last five years (4.4 MDL/kg).
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