As a result of negotiations between the Government of the Republic of Moldova and the European Commission on updating the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), the parties agreed to increase duty-free quotas for exports from Moldova to the European Union: plums – up to 61 thousand tons, apples – up to 50 thousand tons, table grapes – up to 40 thousand tons, cherries and cherries – up to 4.5 thousand tons.
According to the Association Moldova Fruct, the actual export of plums to the European market in the previous four-year period ranged from 27 thousand tons to 60 thousand tons, apples – from 11 thousand tons to 26 thousand tons, table grapes – from 16 thousand tons to 34 thousand tons, cherries and cherries – from 208 tons to 2.6 thousand tons.
It is worth considering that in 2022, the EU authorities increased preferential quotas for fruits from Moldova, and subsequently exempted from duties a group of goods of fruit group – as a support measure for the country experiencing multilevel problems due to the war in Ukraine. All these enhanced support measures ended on July 24 of this year.
As a consequence, until the ratification of the updated DCFTA by the parties, the previous export quotas for the Republic of Moldova will come into effect: duty-free supplies of apples – 40 thousand tons, table grapes – 20 thousand tons, plums – 15 thousand tons, cherries and cherries – 1.5 thousand tons.
Moldovan experts in the fruit growing industry are concerned about the relatively small size of the current (and renewed) Euro quota for grape exports. This year’s grape harvest will be high, possibly the largest in the five-year period. Accordingly, preferential export of table grapes from Moldova to the European Union is extremely important for Moldovan viticulture.
