The two bans imposed by Russia in 2006 and 2013 determined a profound recession in the winemaking and winegrowing sector and a three-time reduction in wine exports, which caused considerable damage. In 2015-2016, owing to a public – private partnership, the revenues in the sector were slightly increased, while the historical stores were diminished. The development of the wine industry in the post-ban period was discussed by representatives of the Moldovan wine sector in a press club meeting on September 13, IPN reports.

Deputy minister of agriculture, regional development and environment Vasile Luca said the bans imposed by Russia on the import of Moldovan wines continue to have an echo. Nevertheless, the winemaking industry managed to recover and to actively reform itself. The public-private partnership appeared and there was created the National Office of Vine and Wine.

The Office’s director Gheorghe Arpentin said that in 2006, when the first ban was imposed, the private sector, after a boom in sales on the Russian market, got into a panic because 90% of the Moldovan wine market disappeared during one night. “The private sector was in a panic and nobody had a solution. There was also the public sector that was preoccupied with something else than with the identification of a solution to the problems. The dialogue was inefficient. A third party was needed to conduct this dialogue and this third party was the competiveness project that brought us closer,” he stated.

The many discussions between the public and private sectors ended in 2010 with the signing of two memorandums. There was adopted A new Law on Vine and Wine and a management system based on the public-private partnership and created the Winemaking and Winegrowing Register and the vine fund, which was the only chance to save the sector, stated Gheorghe Arpentin.

Diana Lazar, vice director of the USAID Moldovan Competitiveness Project, said that owing to the public-private partnership in the wine sector, a number of structural and strategic changes were made and there was launched the Wine of Moldova brand and reformed the normative framework. This enabled the sector to recover.

Andrei Crigan, economic consultant at the National Office of Vine and Wine, said that during 12 years of the first ban, the private sector lost about 50 “players” and a shortage of human resources appeared and the sector could not focus on investment, including in the field of personnel. At the same time, the banking sector gradually lost interest in financing the wine sector and the wine makers had to invest the own money in business and to find other sources of financing to survive.

Ludmila Gogu, director of “Chateau Vartely”, said that to restore its position on the wine market following the ban, the company allocated money for the promotion and production of high-quality wines. “It is very hard to convince foreign buyers of the specialty of the brand. It was much easier to make ourselves known on the international market after all the producers united. After all the players became involved, 20% of the quantitative losses sustained after the imposition of the bans were covered,” said Ludmila Gogu.

Russia imposed the first ban on the import of Moldova wines in 2006. Though this hasn’t been lifted officially, gradually a number of companies regained the right to export wine products to Russia. In September 2013, Russia reintroduced the ban on the import of Moldovan wine products and this is still valid. The direct losses caused by the bans were assessed at over US$200 million, while the revenues that failed to be collected totaled US$ 1.5 billion. As a result of the ban of 2013, the European Commission proposed fully opening the EU market to the Moldovan wines before the coming into force of the EU-Moldova Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement.