Efforts to promote online fruit producers in Moldova, due to pandemic travel restrictions, and adjusting the technological processes of production and international certification of apricots this year allowed for the first time the export of Moldovan apricots to several countries of the European Union.
Several apricot growers, assisted by the Moldova Fruit Association and the USAID Performing Agriculture in Moldova (APM) project, are already delivering the fruit to Germany, France and Hungary.
At the same time, negotiations are underway on the export of Moldovan apricots to the Netherlands.
Tatiana Burcă, marketing specialist at USAID APM, claims that the export of apricots to the EU market at an attractive price, both for fresh consumption and for processing, is due to a complex approach to the new conditions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"In parallel with the project's ongoing assistance to fruit growers in improving production, post-harvest technologies and implementing international standards such as GLOBALG.AP and GRASP, we have launched a focused strategy to promote Moldovan fruit in the EU. Presentation web pages and virtual tours for export-ready companies have been developed, online trade missions and B2B meetings with various European importers have been organized, articles have been published on specialized media platforms, assistance has been provided on export procedures to the EU Said Tatiana Burca.
Even if in 2020 a small amount of apricots was exported to Romania, Poland and Lithuania, the export potential of Moldovan apricots in the EU is not capitalized, and 85 percent of the export of apricots produced in the Republic of Moldova is directed to the CIS market.
Lidia Ionaș, representative of Ionex-Trans, claims that in previous years the company exported plums to Germany, but due to the virtual tour, German importers saw the assortment of fruits produced by Ionex-Trans and compliance with GLOBALG.AP and GRASP standards in the production process.
"This year we are exporting apricots to Germany for the first time. We also started exporting apricots to France. We are very confident that our fruits will be appreciated and we hope to expand the export market in several EU countries ", says Lidia Ionaș.
Although apricot is a promising crop with high market potential for export, in the Republic of Moldova apricot orchards are only 4.75 thousand hectares, of which 3.8 thousand are fruitful, mostly located in the southern areas, Southeast and Center.
The harvest obtained in 2020 was 6.5 thousand tons, of which 2 thousand tons were exported.
Source: https://agrobiznes.md/in-premiera-caisele-moldovenesti-sunt-exportate-in-mai-multe-tari-ue.html
