The open letter of the association’s management notes: “The experience of recent years has shown that massive uncontrolled imports from Ukraine cause significant price fluctuations on the domestic market, which ruins local producers”. Licensing the import of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds to the Moldovan market allows the Moldovan authorities to regulate the volume of supplies of these goods and provides the stability necessary for planning domestic agricultural production.
Another argument in favor of licensing the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to Moldova is the protection of Moldovan exports to the European Union. The Romanian market, Moldova’s main trading partner in the agri-food sector, is “extremely sensitive to competition from Ukraine.” There is a real risk that “Ukrainian imports will be masked by the ‘Moldovan flag’ and re-exported to Romania, which will completely undermine the confidence of our trading partners.” The European market has already reinstated import quotas and customs duties on imports of many agri-food products from Ukraine. Poland, Romania, Slovakia and some other countries have imposed their own restrictions on Ukrainian imports to protect local agricultural producers. “Moldova must do the same to avoid being the only open and vulnerable market in the region,” Forța Fermierilor said in a message.
Earlier Logos Press reported that the first licensing of wheat, corn and sunflower imports to Moldova was introduced on October 11, 2023, and it was in force during the entire period of state of emergency – until the end of that year. Then this regime was prolonged more than once, the term of the last “renewal of the licensing system” expires on December 31, 2025.
It is also worth noting that currently the prices for grain and oilseeds in Moldova and Ukraine do not differ much, there is no special economic sense to import these products to the Moldovan market. However, it may appear, if due to problems with logistics (because of increased attacks on port and other transportation infrastructure in Ukraine) prices for Ukrainian agricultural products will sharply decrease. In this case, importing cheap raw materials to supplement the Moldovan processing and food industry will become economically feasible. Taking this into account, some organizations of commodity producers are in favor of preserving the possibility of importing raw materials from Ukraine, but for limiting supplies of finished products to the Moldovan market – sugar-containing goods, meal, flour, vegetable oils, etc.
