Nevertheless, due to the growing demand from exporters and the relatively high quality of cherries of the mentioned varieties, the process of cheapening of cherries on the domestic market has stopped. For how long? There are factors both “for” and “against”.
According to the monitoring of east-fruit.com, the decline in wholesale prices for cherries last week has stopped. The average wholesale price on the domestic market stabilized at 40 lei/kg ($2.33/kg). This is the lowest level of the average wholesale price for cherries in the European part of the monitoring of the mentioned analytical portal. For comparison, in Poland – $2.7/kg, Russia – $3.19/kg, Ukraine $4.08/kg.
In Romania, according to Moldovan merchants, the price for cherries in wholesale is one and a half or two and three or four times higher than in the Republic of Moldova. This fact, of course, stimulates the export of Moldovan cherries to the Romanian market. The best products are sent further – to Germany and the Baltic States.
At the same time, the relatively low (if compared to the European level) price for cherries in Moldova is not a hundred percent reason for resentment of its producers. If we analyze the price dynamics of the domestic market of the Republic of Moldova in previous years, we can conclude that the average price of cherries in the country during the whole June 2025 is at the maximum level for this month. That is, it is 25% higher than in June last year and 30-40% higher than in the previous years of the current five-year period.
At the same time, the “cherry season” in Moldova is entering a rather dangerous phase. Monitoring by east-fruit.com shows that after a high start in May, cherry prices in RM usually stagnate from the second week of June until the end of this month “at the bottom of a more or less deep “ravine”. For most of June 2025, this “ravine” was shallow – prices held at a relatively high level.
However, as one large Moldovan trader notes, “even if in the supermarkets of very solvent Germany the prices for cherries have now renewed the historical record, this is guaranteed to be followed by a decline in consumption”. In Moldova – even more so. By the beginning of July, the population of our very poor country will surely get tired of “cherries at the price of meat”. Consequently, only active export will be able to maintain a high level of prices in the future. But will it be? It is an open question.
The rainfall at the end of last week has not yet damaged the cherry crop (so-called “cracking” – cracking). Mainly because the rains were short-lived and accompanied by wind (which blew the drops off the fruit). However, if the rainfall continues, the quality of the produce – and with it exports and prices – could decline. This is exactly what is happening in Ukraine at the moment.
However, even if Moldovan farmers are lucky – in the sense that prolonged rains at the turn of June-July will not fall in the country – it is unlikely that cherry exports from Moldova this year will approach the level of previous years. Fears that frosts in April-May killed 70-90% of the Moldovan cherry crop proved to be excessive. However, losses in the range of 35-55% in this segment of fruit growing in general are a sad reality, already officially confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Another specific feature of the current season is the unevenness of cherry crop losses by regions and varieties. In Moldova, there are indeed specialized (on horticulture) agricultural enterprises that lost almost the entire crop of cherries of certain varieties. And export to EU retail implies homogeneous consignments of goods – fruits of the same variety, caliber, stage of maturity, etc. Therefore, either export will be short in terms of time, small in number and volume of consignments. Or traders-exporters will have to cooperate, which, as practice shows, is not easy in Moldova. That is, the most likely scenario is a rather sharp reduction in exports of Moldovan cherries this year.
According to the Association Moldova Fruct, in 2024, the export of cherries, amounted to about 14 thousand tons, including to the EU – 2.3 thousand tons, in the CIS – 11.3 thousand tons. In 2023, more than 16 thousand tons of cherries were exported from Moldova: to the EU – 2.6 thousand tons, to the CIS countries and Ukraine – 13.7 thousand tons. The volume of export supplies in 2024 in financial terms – about $18 million, in 2023 – almost $22.3 million. The average invoice price in 2024 – $1.38/kg.
Moldova Fruct employees believe that the result (both in tons and money) in previous years could have been better. However, the Moldovan fruit business, especially in the stone fruit segment, still lacks the capacity of post-harvest infrastructure: emergency cooling (pre-cooling) facilities, as well as sorting and packing of produce, especially into small consumer containers.
According to expert estimates, the area of cherry orchards in Moldova is about 3.7-4.3 thousand hectares. Moldova Fruct’s estimate is more optimistic – more than 5 thousand hectares. The yield from them varies between 12-20 thousand tons. That is, the average harvest is 14-15 thousand tons of marketable products. There are 20 varieties of cherries grown in Moldova. The most commercially demanded are Ferrovia, Regina, Kordia, Big Star, Skeena, Early Star.
