As in the previous spring months, the “big three” buyers of Moldovan apples were Russia (almost 5.9 thousand tons, 5.2 million, average price – $0.88/kg), Romania (3.3 thousand tons, 2.3 million, $0.71/kg) and Belarus (245 tons, 248 thousand, $1/kg). In total, Moldova exported apples to 11 countries in May, the geography of supplies is wide – from Iceland to Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia. However, with the exception of the mentioned “big three”, the volume of supplies is relatively small – dozens of tons. This was reported to Logos Press by the Association “Moldova Fruct” with reference to the MAIA Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry.
In the spring of the last season, the external supplies of apples from Moldova were higher and “amplitude”: in March they reached 19 thousand tons, in May they dropped to 8 thousand tons, in total in spring 2025 the country exported about 40 thousand tons of apples.
At first glance, the comparison of data suggests that in the spring of the last season the scale of external supplies depended to a greater extent on market conditions. Whereas this year, spring exports of apples from Moldova are more uniform, as if they were carried out in a planned mode, to traditional markets (the only anomaly is the war in Iran, which could disrupt the logistics of Moldovan apple supplies to the markets of Middle East countries).
By the way, the stability of exports in terms of tonnage correlates quite well with the stability of purchase wholesale prices for apples for the “fresh market” of 10-12 lei/kg (depending on the variety, etc.). Market operators note only one short-term burst of “demand prices” for export-quality apples – at the moment when information appeared in the corporate environment about significant losses of the future apple crop due to frosts in Poland.
Outlook for the end of the 2025/26 marketing season
According to employees of the Association “Moldova Fruct”, by the beginning of summer there were about 10-20 thousand tons of apples of the crop 2025 left in the warehouses of agricultural enterprises and traders of Moldova.
Taking into account that at least a month remains before the actual completion, even the “fresh market” alone – domestic and foreign – is able to absorb such a volume of goods. However, we cannot say that sales at a good price are guaranteed. Firstly, analysts of the fruit market in Europe note that even taking into account the evidence from a number of countries about the reduction of stocks of marketable apple crop-2025 by the end of the marketing season, its stocks in general in the European Union are still high – above last year’s level. Secondly, estimates of significant losses of the future apple crop due to severe winter and spring frosts in a number of Central and Eastern European countries may be overestimated.
At the same time, the Moldovan market of “industrial apple” stagnated all spring. In May, almost all enterprises producing apple concentrate took a technical pause to prepare factories for the future processing season. According to the heads of these enterprises, farmers report that they are ready to resume deliveries of sorted (substandard for the “fresh market”) last year’s apple in June-July, when the factories resume work.
Earlier, Logos Press wrote that the fruit and vegetable processing industry is about to undergo structural changes: one of the companies from the top 3 companies in the industry intends to acquire the Natur Bravo factory (Kupčinj) and settle all formalities with the Competition Council in connection with this transaction by the beginning of the new season.
