According to official data, in the 2025/26 season (in the period from July to February), almost 127 thousand tons of barley were exported from Moldova – this is 4.3% more compared to the same period of the previous season (122 thousand tons). However, it is still far from the figures of previous seasons: in 2023/24 – 148 thousand tons, 2021/22 – 175 thousand tons (season 2022/23 – abnormal drop in external supplies, up to 40 thousand tons).
However, the most significant fluctuations in the barley segment for the grain market operators in Moldova are observed at the price level. Thus, the average export price for barley of the 2025 harvest reached the level of 3.60 lei/kg, which is 10% higher compared to the previous season and 19% higher than the level of the 2023/24 season.
High exportconcentration
Barley exports brought Moldova financial revenues of about 456 million lei, which is more than the corresponding figure for the previous season (398 million lei).
The high demand is confirmed by the fact that the barley stocks of the last harvest were exhausted already in February 2026, several months earlier than usual. At the same time, in January of this year there were practically no foreign supplies of Moldovan barley, and in February there was only one transaction – a sea delivery of 2.67 thousand tons of barley to Lebanon.
As agro-marketing expert, executive director of Agrocereale Association Iurie Rizha notes, 20 trading companies were operating on the Moldovan barley market. But the share of only three of them accounted for 78% of external supplies – 99 thousand tons.
The three leaders are RUSAGRO-PRIM – 42 thousand tons (33% of total exports), OROM-IMEXPO – 36 thousand tons (28%) and AGRO-NOVA PRIM – almost 22 thousand tons (17%).
Why is the sowing area not growing?
As Grigorii Baltag, head of agrarian policy in crop production of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAIA) notes, in Moldova, as well as in Europe as a whole, the ratio of barley and wheat sowing is usually 1/10. Usually, in our country, farmers allocate 40-60 thousand hectares for barley. Last year, due to the delayed harvest and late sowing, barley acreage in the country decreased.
In the last few years, the market position of barley (conditionally – a premium forage crop) in the world grain market has been strengthening. However, there is a serious constraint: winter barley is a less winter-hardy crop than wheat.
In cold winters, barley is prone to freezing. And this year MAIA has already received signals from farmers in the northern regions that in some farms winter barley crop losses from frosts reach 20-40%.
At the same time, this year the moisture reserves in the soil after the fall-winter period in Moldova are quite significant, which does not happen often. Theoretically, farmers with a good chance of a high yield could reseed the dead crops with spring barley, or simply expand the crops in spring. But there are no significant stocks of spring barley seed in the country.
