The large quantities of plums obtained this year do not necessarily mean higher revenues for producers. Contacted by IPN, executive director of the Association “Moldova-Fruct” Petru Stratan said the generous supply leads to lower prices. In the hope of gaining more money, the producers store the plums in refrigerating rooms in order to sell them in extra-season.

Petru Stratan said that most of the fridges this year are full with plums. The previous years the prices in extra-season were high. “Everyone counts on this market segment, but I don’t think that we will have the same situation as last year, when the price of plums increased significantly,” he stated.

According to the director of “Moldova-Fruct”, most of the plums cultivated in Moldova are exported fresh. The Moldovan plums are in demand in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Producer from Cantemir Vladimir Davidescu collected by 8-10 tonnes of plums per hectare. All the harvest will be exported. The fifth part of the crop will be sold now, while the rest in extra-season. The demand on the home market is not so high so that the largest part of the production is exported.

According to Vladimir Davidescu, the Moldovan farmers would be able to export more agricultural products to the European Union if they had the necessary processing equipment. “The plum paste is very popular with the consumers in the EU and Canada, but it is made with very expensive equipment. We consider that the state should subsidize this equipment,” he said.

The price of a kilogram of plums this year is 3 lei from the producer.