In the new structure of the industry, a large niche for imported products with different price tags – both low and high – has been preserved (and probably even expanded). At the same time, there is almost no space left for local “farmer’s milk” collected by procurement points – intermediaries for industrial processing by Moldovan factories.
The export flow of Moldovan dairy products has also almost dried up. The new production and commercial reality of the industry has greatly changed its raw material sector. Milk is slowly becoming less, but its quality, as processors claim, is gradually increasing. But first things first.
How did the industry work before?
Until the beginning of this decade, as industry operators say, dairy factories collected from Moldova “absolutely all the raw milk that money could buy”.
Processors procured milk both through their own raw milk services and also had to use the services of local procurement points – intermediaries. The latter grew “like mushrooms after rain” thanks to tax incentives and relatively high purchase prices offered for raw milk by dairy factories.
According to the National Association of Milk and Dairy Products Producers “Lapte”, at the turn of the decade raw milk in Moldova was more expensive in terms of price/quality ratio than in a number of EU countries. There were several incentives for such a raw material procurement policy of the Moldovan dairy industry operators at that time.
Firstly, there was a deficit domestic market of dairy products in the segment of milk-intensive products (butter, cheese, cottage cheese) and a stable, i.e. in need of regular replenishment, in the segment of whole-milk products with short shelf life (drinking milk, kefir, sour cream, etc.).
Secondly, there are export markets for some dairy products – mainly hard cheese (CIS countries) and ice cream (Middle East, etc.).
Thirdly, relatively inexpensive energy resources, which allowed seasonal surplus milk to be converted (through energy-intensive technologies) into butter and skim milk powder in summer.
However, since the beginning of the current decade, the situation has started to change. Moldova lost free access to the dairy products market of Russia and Kazakhstan, as a result of which cheese exports stopped (in the best years they were measured in thousands of tons). Then there was an energy crisis in the world, in Europe and especially in Moldova – it became unreasonably expensive to dry milk for local dairy factories.
In addition, due to pandemic and energy shocks, poverty levels in Moldova increased and purchasing power dropped. This directly affected the capacity of the country’s dairy market. According to expert estimates, it has decreased.
At the same time, in conditions of war, constant pressure on production and transportation logistics, and population outflow, Ukraine had to increase exports of dairy products (especially cheese, butter, yogurt, and sour cream) at reduced prices to the Moldovan market. Price competition between local products and cheap Ukrainian imports on the Moldovan dairy market has noticeably intensified.
How does the Moldovan dairy industry work in the new realities?
The reduction in demand for local dairy products and their production in a number of assortment items has entailed a certain decrease in demand for dairy raw materials.
At the same time, the government at the suggestion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAIA) started to provide direct subsidies to livestock breeders (authorized by ANSA) – additional payments for each kilogram of milk delivered for industrial processing (on average about 3 lei/kg). As a result, the number of officially registered farms and the number of cows in them increased. However, milk production, in general, did not increase.
However, in a certain sense, it became easier for dairy factories to deal with industrial dairy farms. The need to deal with intermediary procurement points has almost completely disappeared for many factories.
As a result, factories set limits (up to 5 tons) for milk acceptance from procurement points. As a consequence, some (single cases) large procurement points organized their own production of dairy products. However, other such enterprises (not isolated cases) began to experience difficulties in selling milk to processors.
The problem is also that this situation was overlaid by a repeated energy crisis provoked by the war in the Middle East. In spring, Moldovan dairy factories, whose production costs have sharply increased, did not reduce the purchase prices for raw milk. But, as Logos Press wrote, citing the words of dairy factory managers, they are “holding on from the last gasp”.
Most likely, the adjustment of purchase prices for milk in the summer will still happen. Or, at least, the range between the purchase prices for milk from industrial farms and from small farm households, as well as corral points will increase. According to the latest information, factories pay about 9 lei/kg to the first category of raw milk suppliers, and 6-6.5 lei/kg (without VAT) to the second.
The role of Ukraine
It should be noted that Ukraine for Moldova is a major supplier not only of finished dairy products, but also of dairy raw materials. As Logos Press wrote recently, in 2026, from January to April inclusive, Moldova imported 1.8 thousand tons of raw milk from Ukraine in the amount of 16.6 million lei.
For some dairy factories in the north of Moldova, the inflow of relatively cheap Ukrainian milk has become a serious factor in pricing, increasing the competitiveness of finished products and expanding their assortment (at the expense of milk-intensive products – hard cheeses, first of all).
This fact did not go unnoticed, in particular, by Ukrainian producers of dairy products. In mid-May, on their initiative, a working meeting of the assets of the National Association of Milk and Dairy Producers “Lapte” of the Republic of Moldova and the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine took place in Chisinau. The official agenda was the signing of a Memorandum on bilateral cooperation in the process of European integration and implementation of European regulations.
Unofficially, the Ukrainian delegation expressed concern about the fact that Moldova buys a lot of milk from small Ukrainian farmers, for the quality of which the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine cannot guarantee – this is fraught with reputational risks for the country’s dairy industry. However, the sectoral union can vouch for the quality of milk produced on the dairy farms of its member enterprises (and offer surplus raw milk – if any – for sale to Moldovan colleagues).
In this connection, again unofficially, some heads of Moldovan dairy factories suggested that the member enterprises of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine, firstly, do not mind buying up quite cheap “farmer’s milk” themselves and do not need competition for it from their neighbors; secondly, they do not need strengthening of Moldovan producers of dairy products (expansion of the raw material base and range of finished products) at the expense of Ukrainian dairy raw materials from small farmers.
Probably, not of the best quality. But it is cheap.
