A positive trend is witnessed in the export of vegetal products from Moldova – the assortment is diversified, while the Moldovan farmers discover new products that are in demand on foreign markets, director of the National Food Safety Agency Gheorghe Gaberi said in a news conference, quoted by IPN.

Gheorghe Gaberi noted that Moldova’s exports of vegetal products during the first ten months of this year were larger than throughout 2015. In January-October, the exports came to almost 210,000 tonnes of fruit, as opposed to slightly over 155,000 tonnes in 2015.

The fruit exports have diversified. Earlier, there were exported mainly apples, but now they also deliver abroad plums, apricots, peaches as well as raspberry, strawberries, cherries and grapes. Gheorghe Gaberi said the exports of berries and stone fruits bring a larger surplus value to producers.

Also, besides traditional products, the Moldovan farmers also export mushrooms, mustard, grape seeds, dog-rose, corn and rye flour and even walnut shell flour, flax seeds, etc. For the first time this year, the Moldovan producers exported almonds, quinces, blackberries, dried tomatoes, pickled cucumbers, grey peas and horseradish roots.

The rise in the exports of seeds and saplings is another trend. There were exported more traditional fruit trees such as apricot, cherry, apple and pear trees. The sales of gooseberry, black currant and raspberry bushes doubled. For the first time, there were exported hazel, hawthorn and strawberry cuttings. More than half of the trees and bushes were exported to the EU.

Gheorghe Gaberi noted the EU market became more attractive for the Moldovan producers. Seed exports to the EU last year were small in quantity, but this year they amounted to about 100 tonnes, 87 tonnes of which were corn seeds.

The CIS market remains a traditional one for many producers. The exports of seedlings to the CIS rose from 1 million pieces last year to about 3 million this year. But the exports of fruit and vegetables decreased.

According to Gheorghe Gaberi, among the most important EU markets are Romania, Lithuanian, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Slovenia, while among the most important CIS markets are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Georgia. Exports to Russia declined.