Although Moldova in the first eight months of this year exported by 6 million liters of wine fewer than in the corresponding period last year, the exports to the EU member states rose by almost 5 million liters after the EU abrogated the import quotas on Moldovan wine.

According to a note issued by the Customs Service following an inquiry made by IPN, almost 12 million liters of the total 57 millions liters exported so far this year were sold to the EU. In the first eight months of last year, Moldova exported over 62 million liters of wine, more than 7 million liters of which to the EU.

Poland is the largest European importer of Moldovan wine. It imported over 3.2 million liters this year so far. The Czech Republic imported more than 3.1 million liters. Moldova’s wine exports to the EU increased this year owing to the larger quantities of wine imported by such countries as Austria, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, and Slovakia. Exports to Lithuania rose by over 529,000 liters on last year, to 862,000 liters, while to Italy – by over 110,000 liters, to 153,000 liters.

There are nine EU member states that didn’t import wine from Moldova in the first eight months of this year. These are Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxemburg, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, and Hungary. Spain imported only 90 liters, unlike last year, when it imported no Moldovan wine.

In the period, the volume of Moldovan wine exported to the United States and Canada grew from 29,000 liters to 256,000 liters and from 4,000 liters to 17,000 liters respectively. Exports to China declined from 740,000 liters in the first eight months of last year to 734,000 liters in the corresponding period this year.

Exports to Belarus remained practically at the same level – 28.5 million liters. Kazakhstan this year has imported 2.8 million liters of wine, down from 3.3 million liters last year.