Negotiations in Moscow failed to bring about a decision on resuming Moldovan wine exports

Negotiations between Russian and Moldovan experts, which took place in Moscow, haven’t resulted in the decision to resume Moldovan wines exports to Russia, Russian press reports, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. According to "RosPotrebNadzor" and the “Moldova-Vin” Agency, bilateral consultations will continue in the near future. Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor Gennady Onsichenko said it is early to talk about the date of finishing the consultations, mentioning that in the near future, after additional but decisive consultations, the Russian part would send experts to Moldova to make a civilised estimation at the place. Oniscenko recognised that Moldova respected the requirements of the Russian part and strengthened the internal control of the wine production quality, Russian Interfax agency reported. According to the official, no substantial changes were required, but only a strict compliance with the technological discipline, stopping producing counterfeit production and ignoring quality. According to him, the Moldovan part has already implemented measures in order to solve the problems in these regards. Oniscenko also mentioned that after analysing the documents submitted by the 35 Moldovan companies, only 10 have been selected, without specifying their names. Russian analysts think that the list could include wine factories with international renown - "Acorex Wine Holding", "Milestii Mici", "Dionysos-Mereni" etc. According to the Russian publication “Gazeta”, the return of Moldovan production on the Russian market would imply great costs for both producers and consumers. “It is obvious that Moldovans will have to spend important resources for a new entery to the Russian market”. The last half a year showed that “the Moldovan place has been occupied by superior quality wines”, the audit consulting group “Finexpertiza” claims, mentioning that Moldova will have to return to the Russian market with wines of an irreproachable quality. However, the cited sources say that Moldovan producers will have to use dumping prices. According to the estimations of the participants in the market, the average retail price for a Moldovan wine bottle will constitute about RUR 150 to 200 (USD 6-8). At the same time, some participants in the market consider that these measures could be insufficient, given that Russian commercial networks will not be very glad about the news about the return of the Moldovan wines. The Russians’ reluctance is explained by their fear of assuming risks, because of the lack of a guarantee that after a certain period no pesticides would be discovered again in the Moldovan wine production.