In the first eight months of this year, wine exports grew in value by 40% from the same period last year, to $105 million. The is also by 27% above the 10-year average, the National Office of Vine and Wine reported.
In the current season, winegrowers expect a lower harvest of grapes, mainly due to the heatwave in August. Specialists estimate the reduction of the harvest by about 25-50 thousand tonnes compared to last year. It is expected that about 260 thousand tonnes of grapes will be processed.
“In the last 10 years, Moldova’s wine sector has literally made a revolution, reaching the highest level of development. A lot of work was done. Now we are going to continue all these processes. The main courses of action are: strengthening relations between winegrowers and winemakers, increasing the productivity and quality of grapes, stimulating promotion and marketing activities. This is crucial, because we are in fierce competition at the regional and global level with all the wine-making countries”, said Vladimir Bolea, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry, during the National Wine Industry Conference.
Around 100 representatives of the wine sector, the academic community, government officials and development partners participated in the Conference, themed “Grape Harvest 2023: Particularities and Capitalization”.