As a representative of the management of the “Forța Fermierilor” Association of Grain and Oilseed Producers noted in a comment to Logos Press, — this organization is responsible for the most optimistic forecast: assuming that the average corn yield this season will be close to the relatively modest mark of 4 metric tons per hectare, then the gross harvest from 414,000 hectares of corn crops this year will be no less than 1.5 million metric tons.
In turn, the administrator of the “Agrocereale” Association of Grain and Oilseed Exporters suggests that a more realistic forecast for this year’s corn harvest is 0.8–1 million metric tons. According to the organization’s representative, there are sufficient reasons for caution. Among them is the likelihood of heavy fall rainfall. Last year, these rains significantly slowed down and ultimately reduced the corn harvest (part of the unharvested crop “on the stalk and in the ears” overwintered in the field).
Furthermore, given rising fuel prices and the less-than-favorable price conditions on the local market for Group 1 agricultural products, it remains unclear what resources Moldovan farmers will have available to organize the harvest of Group 2 grain (corn).
It is also unclear at this time whether Moldova’s grain elevators will have sufficient available capacity by mid-fall to process and store the corn harvest. It is quite possible that, first, farmers and traders will not have sold enough wheat and barley by that time; and second, they will already have put a substantial volume of sunflower seeds—a potentially more profitable crop—into storage.
Consequently, it may turn out that this year’s corn harvest, like last year’s, will be delayed—which could lead to a reduction in the marketable supply of this product.
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