Last November, the Moldovan government decided to restrict sugar imports from CEFTA countries (in particular, from Serbia). The blocking period expired on April 27, 2026. Since then, as stated in the press release of the mentioned organizations, “the Moldovan sugar market is completely unregulated with regard to imports from Serbia, Belarus and Russia”.
What does Russia have to do with this?
As sugar market operators point out in this regard, Russian sugar has not been imported to the Moldovan market for about a decade and a half.
Sugar from Belarus was indeed imported to Moldova this year, but in relatively small quantities (for example, comparable to the supplies of Moldovan apples to the Belarusian market).
Until recently, Moldova traded with these countries within the framework of the CIS agreement, which was recently denounced. Accordingly, the problem of Belarusian sugar in Moldova (and the same Moldovan apples on the markets of Belarus and Russia) will soon have to be solved separately and separately (from the CEFTA agreement, in particular).
Under CEFTA, it is only the problem of Serbian sugar on the Moldovan market. “Serbia buys gas from Russia at $320 per 1000 m³ (while Moldova pays $480) and provides farmers with direct subsidies of 300 euros/ha from an agricultural budget of 1.27 billion euros, which is 14 times more than Moldova’s,” according to a release from Moldovan sugar and sugar beet producers. For this reason, one must assume, Serbian sugar is cheaper than Moldovan sugar.
However, according to market operators, Serbian sugar factories, as well as many other industrial enterprises of this country, operate on Bosnian coal – this, first of all.
Secondly, according to sugar importers, during the week since the restoration of the free trade regime with CEFTA countries, they have not imported a single kilogram of sugar to Moldova. And they do not plan to do so in the near future.
Why is European sugar on the Moldovan market “in unequal conditions”?
“Sugar from the EU, UK and Ukraine is imported under tariff quotas and with 75 percent duty (outside them, LP note). Moldova’s European partners are treated more strictly than economies politically and energetically supported by Russia. This blatant contradiction in trade policy is unacceptable and incompatible with Moldova’s European path,” the sugar producers and sugar beet growers said in a statement to the media.
In this regard, it makes sense to recall that the euro quota (about 9 thousand tons annually) for sugar imports to Moldova is mostly used by sugar producers themselves, who usually choose it according to the principle of “first come, first served” at the very beginning of the year.
Another question – is there any other product (and other component for food production) in Moldova subject to customs duty of 75%? Why such a selective and disproportionate way of market protection?
What sugar growers want, bakers do not want
Subjects of the sugar-beet complex claim that at the moment “sugar reserves are sufficient to cover 150% of annual domestic consumption, equivalent to 18 months of autonomy”. By the way, approximately the same argument was used to motivate the suspension of sugar imports from Serbia under the CEFTA agreement last year. In other words, nothing has changed in this respect.
Although it is known that in Moldova the sugar season was interrupted last fall due to technical failures at factories and bad weather in the field. As a result, the sugar beet crop from a considerable agricultural area was never harvested. How much sugar was produced in Moldova last season has not been reported yet.
However, it is known that according to the plan of the industry entities, 6.5 thousand hectares were to be sown with sugar beet for the harvest-2026 (last year – about 9 thousand hectares). It can be assumed that this season sugar will be produced less than last season.
Despite the downward trend in production indicators, sugar producers urge the government:
- Immediately resume the procedures to promote and approve the government’s decree on the regulation of sugar imports – a draft already drafted, approved and submitted for public discussion – which is considered necessary to prevent the intensification of the negative effects caused by uncontrolled imports.
- Maintain a transparent and constructive dialog with the sugar industry, including in case of adjustments to the project.
- Ensure consistency between the public commitments of the Government of the Republic of Moldova to support domestic production and the trade policies applied in practice.
By the way, as Logos Press wrote, other business associations of the Moldovan food industry are not reluctant to join the process of public consultations on the draft sugar import regulations. Two of them (canned food producers and bakers), as well as a dozen and a half enterprises sent a letter to the Parliament expressing concern about the prospect of total dependence on local producers (and importers as well) of sugar.
