The grape harvest this year is estimated to be of 620,000 tonnes, including 110,000 tonnes of table grapes. The figures are higher than last year, when 615,700 tonnes of grapes were collected, including 86,700 tonnes of table grapes. The Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment said the vineyards this year total 135,000 hectares. Of these, 129,000 hectares yield grapes, IPN reports.
The associations of small producers plan to gather 410,000 tonnes of grapes, including 90,000 tonnes of table grapes. An amount of 300,000 tonnes of grapes, 280,000 tonnes of which are European sorts and 20,000 tonnes are sorts of the type Isabella, will be processed.
Owing to the weather conditions, the harvesting of grapes started later than the previous years – on August 10 in the case of table grapes and in the second half of September in the case of sorts for making wine. The late sorts, such as Moldova, Ialovenskii Ustoichivyi and Caraburnu, will begin at the end of September.
The table grapes on the domestic market have been sold for 9-12 lei/kg, during the past week oscillating between 7 and 9 lei/kg. The European sorts are exported at the price of 8-12 lei/kg, while Isabella of 5.5-6 lei/kg. The purchase prices of grapes intended for wine are higher than last year and vary between 4.8-6.0 lei/kg for the European sorts and between 3.0 and 3.5 lei/kg for Isabella.
Over 7,200 tonnes of grapes of this year’s harvest have been exported until now. Exports so far this year came to over 23,000 tonnes. The largest volume, of 5,000 tonnes, was sold to Russia.
