About 78% of the grapes harvested in Moldova are sold on the home market, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting the Strategic Views on the Development of the Table Grape Sector for 2010 – 2020 Project proposed for public debates by the Association of Travel Grape Producers and Exporters. The Association's executive director Igor Vatamaniuc, who presented the document, said more than 20% of the table grapes are used to make wine as they cannot be sold fresh owing to their quality. About 75% of the table grapes are sold wholesale, approximately 22% are retailed on farmers' markets, while 1.7% are sold directly in the field. As to the storage and sale of table grapes when they are more expensive, Vatamaniuc said that Moldova can store about 25,000 – 30,000 tonnes of grapes, but the storage capacities are not fully used as the owners of refrigerators do not grow table grapes and use them for other purposes. Most of the grapes are stored by intermediary companies. Only a few of these companies and the producers do not possess the food safety certificate GlobalGAP. This is a good reason for asking a higher price on the domestic and foreign markets. Vatamaniuc also said that the table grape exports during the last three years rose 2.5 times, from 8,000 tonnes in 2006 to 20,000 tonnes in 2008. The direct exports made up only 8%. The rest of the table grapes were exported by intermediary companies. 56% of the exports were absorbed by Russia, 27% by Belarus, by 8.5% by Ukraine and Romania. The table grape harvest in Moldova is about 90,000 a year. The average productivity is 4.5 tonnes per hectare. Only 3.5% of the table grape fields are now irrigated.