The apple harvest this year is projected to be lower than the previous years. There are fewer fruits on the trees as the flowers fell down owing to last yearend’s drought and because many apples remained on trees last year. Mihai Turcanu, fruit grower from Floresti district, has told IPN that the current drought also affects the fruits forming on the trees.
As to the prices at which the apples are now sold on the home market, of over 20 lei per kg, Mihai Turcanu said the high prices are due to the shortage of apples. Owing to the ban imposed by Russia and because of the lack of storage conditions, the growers last autumn sold the apples to processing factories at very low prices.
Iurie Fala, executive director of the Association “Moldova-Fruct”, stated for IPN that now the storehouses of apple growers are being emptied very quickly. In 2014 the producers sold over 240,000 tonnes of apples to processing factories, as opposed to about 90,000 tones the years before. Afterward, a part of the apples were exported to the EU or other countries. At the beginning of spring, several tens of tonnes were sold to Russia too.
In reaction to the ban imposed by Russia, the Government of Poland purchased most of the apples from its producers. This led to a rise in the price of Polish apples. Some of the Moldovan apples were bought by those who earlier imported apples from Poland because they were cheaper. As a result, a shortage of apples appeared on the domestic market and the apple prices grew significantly, stated Iurie Fala.
According to the producers, the previous years the apples cost 3 to 6 lei per kg in this period. Now the prices can reach even 25 lei.
