The apple and plum crops this year are very good and are larger than last year, said the president of “Moldova-Fuct” Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters Vitalie Gorincioi. According to him, a part of the apple and plums that will be gathered will be consumed internally, but the largest quantities will be exported. The CIS market remains the main export market for apples, while the Moldovan plumps conquered the EU market and 60% of the plum production goes to EU member states, IPN reports.
The head of “Moldova-Fruct” said that 2023 is a productive year for apples and massive exports to the CIS and the EU have been therefore planned. The Moldovan apples are now also exported to Asia, including the Persian Gulf.
“We anticipate that the apple crop this year will be larger than last year. Last year, we harvested 400,000 tonnes, but this year we expect to gather 545,000-550,000 tonnes. Out of these, 50,000 tonnes will be consumed on the domestic market; about 300,000 will be processed to make juice concentrates, whereas 150,000-200,000 will be exported. We plan that 60% of the apples will be exported to the CIS and Ukraine. Even if Ukraine produces apples, problems are experienced in many areas there and they therefore import fruit from our country. About 20,000 tonnes of apples go to the European Union, while 20,000-30,000 tones will be exported to Asia, to the Persian Gulf where we have seen an important leap this year,” Vitalie Gorincioi stated in the program “Reflection Points” on Vocea Basarabiei channel.
Last July, the European Council decided to increase the export quotas for a number of Moldovan fruit and vegetates, namely plums, grapes, apples, grape juice, cherries, garlic, and tomatoes.
“We expect that plum production will also be larger than last year, of approximately 85,000 tonnes. Out of these, 10,000 tonnes will go to the pressing industry for making juice and jams, while 50% or even 60% of the plums will be exported to the European Union. We seriously penetrated the market of the European Union after all the taxes were abolished last year. There was a limit earlier and we could export only 15,000 tonnes to the EU. Now these quotas do not exist and we can export according to demand. We will not yet abandon the CIS market as our products are in demand there,” said the chief of “Moldova-Fruct” Association.
Vitalie Gorincioi also said that more than 15,000 tonnes of cherries were exported this year and over 3,000 tonnes of these went to the European Union.
