Less than one year after resuming wine imports from Moldova, Moscow threatens with a new ban. Economic analysis by Info-Prim Neo

The last statements about a possible ban on Moldovan wine imports made by the head of Russia’s foot safety body Rospotrebnadzor, Ghennady Onishchenko could lead to a new deterioration in the Moldovan-Russian economic relations. The statement came as a shock because on the same day, Rospotrebnadzor announced that nine out of the 17 companies inspected early in August had been authorized to submit samples of products to the Moscow laboratory for examination. So, the number of Moldovan wine companies allowed to present samples for examination and to export to Russia amounted to 42. The enemy number one of the Moldovan wine exporters, as Onishchenko is called, told the Russian news agency Interfax that they are more and more dissatisfied with the quality of the cooperation. And this dissatisfaction could lead if not to a situation similar to the one that was two years ago, then to a sudden interruption in the positive trends witnessed. Neither in the spring of 2005, when Rospotrebnadzor started a real war against the Moldovan producers of alcoholic drinks as a result of which the exports to Russia were stopped, was Onishchenko so determined Is it a warning or an ultimatum? What are the real reasons that made Russia’s chief sanitary inspector make such categorical statements? Is it the quality of the products or again a political matter? The reaction of the Agroindustrial Agency Moldova-Vin was unambiguous: the quality of the Moldovan wines cannot be to blame. Chisinau and Moscow thoroughly check the exported and imported products. It is again a political game, a representative of the Agency said over Onishchenko’s statements. The Moscow press presumes the same. “The Moldovan producers do their utmost to please Onishchenko and even instituted full control over the movement of the alcoholic products,” says the Moscow publication “Finansovyie Izvestia” (“Financial News”). Frustrated by the Russian body, the wine exporters describe Onishchenko’s recent statements as a powerful blow. Indeed, it is a great frustration for the Moldovan wine industry, which, after the ban on imports to Russia was lifted at yearend 2007, increased cognac production two times, by about 49.0%, and production of sparkling wine by 25.5%. The Moldovan producers have great stores of wine. The supplies of bulk wine total about 20-25 million decaliters. This is more than the yearly production and about six times more compared with the exports of wines in bulk in the first half of 2008. If the situation that was two years ago repeats or the positive trends are interrupted, Moldova’s wine industry would enter a more serious crisis that the one that followed after March 2005, when Russia stopped importing Moldovan alcoholic products. Before the ban was imposed, the companies were buoyant. Now they are weak, especially financially. It is true that no wine company went bankrupt as a result of the crisis, their number even increasing, but most of them announced a very difficult financial situation. When inspecting the companies at the start of August, the Rospotrebnadzor experts expressed their surprise when they found out that most of the wine factories implemented or were implementing quality management systems ISO 9001 and 22000, what means that the products are safe and of a high quality. At the middle of June, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said after the meeting with his counterpart Zinaida Grecianyi that the Moldovan products are in demand in Russia. Their price and quality meet the international standards. While the ban had been in force, for over 1.8 years, the producers and exporters convinced themselves for numerous times that the massages of the officials and the statements made by the Russian inspectors that come to Moldova do not correspond to the position and actions taken by Rospotrebnadzor. The messages and statements are more or less favorable and almost infective, but Rospotrebnadzor’s position is decisive. The warning made by Russia’s chief sanitary inspector should worry not only the producers and exporters, but also the authorities. This warning is not related to the quality of the products, say specialists and representatives of wine companies, as well as the Russian media. What we can assume is that the Russian food safety body is dissatisfied with the relation with the exporters, owing to certain interests that go beyond a normal relation between partners. Or, certain Russian standards have not been indeed taken into account. The Moscow press says that the Russian standards, valid since the Soviet period, do not admit residues in wines, but certain brands of Moldovan wines include residues. It is hard to understand what the problem is given that Onishchenko did not detail his objections. It is not excluded that somebody does not want the number of exporting companies to extend and would like to monopolize the wine exports. One thing is for sure: the statements made by Russia’s chief sanitary inspector should not be neglected and should be taken serious. Not only the private sector but also the Government should react. The Moldovan wine exporters speak about a Moldovan-Russian agreement of cooperation as regards the exports of wine to Russia, which has not been ratified yet. The statistical data for the first half of this year show that despite the unprecedented crisis, the Moldovan wine producers did not understand that they must reorient their exports. Moldova’s wine exports to the European Union made up 12.4% of the total exports, while to the CIS member states - 86%. The exports to the EU would have been much smaller if the exports to Russia had grown in volume even more. The exporters say that 16 million bottles of Moldovan wine were exported to Russia in 2008, two times less than projected.