According to the Customs Service of the Republic of Moldova, the total trade turnover for this commodity item exceeded 7.8 thousand tons, worth almost 194 million lei. The export component amounted to 5.9 thousand tons (142.8 million lei), import – 1.9 thousand tons (51.2 million lei).
“Most notable is the price asymmetry between the two flows,” notes Iurie Rija, an expert in agro-marketing. – The average price of export sunflower oil amounted to 24 lei/liter, while imported sunflower oil – 27 lei/liter. The difference of 3 lei/liter is not a random fluctuation, but a structural feature. Moldova exports mostly crude unrefined oil in bulk, while importing the product with a higher degree of processing or in consumer packaging. Accordingly, their average price is higher”.
|
Sunflower oil turnover |
Weight, tons | Cost, lei | Average price, lei/liter | Structure of physical turnover, % |
Structure of value turnover, % |
| Export |
5 947 |
142 825 819 | 24 | 76% |
74% |
| Imports |
1 876 |
51 171 342 | 27 | 24% |
26% |
| Total |
7 824 |
193 997 161 | 100% |
100% |
Exports
Last month Moldova exported sunflower oil to three countries: Romania, Bulgaria and Italy. Moreover, Romania bought 5.6 thousand tons of the product for 132.1 million lei, which is 93.5% of the total export volume in physical and 92.5% in value terms.
Such concentration of supplies to one country is both an advantage and a vulnerability: any change in demand or conditions on the Romanian market is immediately reflected in the total Moldovan exports. The average selling price to Romania amounted to 23.8 lei/liter – below the export average, which is explained by the predominance of large-capacity wholesale supplies of unrefined oil.
Bulgaria is on the second place: 293 tons worth 8.4 million lei. Italy closes the top three – 96 tons and 2.4 million lei.
“There is a regularity: the farther away from Moldova the sales market is, the higher the selling price is. In particular, Bulgaria pays more for sunflower oil from RM than Romania. Therefore, even a small increase in supplies of this product to Bulgaria, noticeably increases the average price index of all Moldovan exports. Diversification of supply directions in this context is not just a geographical expansion, but a tool to increase profitability”, – says Iurie Rizha.
In April 2026, six companies exported sunflower oil. The undisputed leader is Danube Oil Company SRL: 5.2 thousand tons for 123.2 million lei. This is 87.8% of the physical volume of export and 87.3% of its value.
Imports
In April 2026, sunflower oil was imported to the Moldovan market from three countries – Ukraine, Russia and Romania. But the first country of this triad accounted for 91.1% of the physical volume of supplies – 1.7 thousand tons (worth 45.6 million lei). The average price of imported Ukrainian oil is 26.7 lei/liter. This is the lowest (and competitive) price among the three suppliers.
Ukraine is traditionally the main supplier of sunflower oil to Moldova. Geographical proximity, well-established logistics and production capacity of Ukrainian oil extraction plants make this direction an alternative in terms of price/volume ratio.
Last month, 21 companies imported sunflower oil to Moldova, none of which accounted for a third of the total volume of supplies.
The leader in imports was Floarea Soarelui SA: 494 tons worth 12.5 million lei, or 26.3% of the physical volume. All the oil came from Ukraine. For the largest Moldovan oil and fat enterprise, regular imports, including unrefined oil in bulk containers, are a standard practice of additional loading of production (packing) and commercial capacities.
“Moldova continues to play the role of a transit-processing link: it receives Ukrainian raw materials, processes them and sends them for export, mainly to the Romanian market. This chain functions stably, but is associated with the risk of concentration: the elimination or significant change of at least one of its links can radically change the situation. From the point of view of the industry’s development strategy, increasing the export volumes of deep-processed products would increase the economic effect,” summarizes Yuri Rizha.
