According to market operators, in 2025 the start of the plum selling season was the latest in a five-year period. Compared to previous years, the start was delayed by two to three weeks. The reason is obvious – an abnormally unstable spring, with alternating periods of sharp warming and prolonged cold. At the same time, judging by the data of EastFruit price monitoring, the starting price for Moldovan plum of new harvest was comparable with the last year’s price level – 17-18 lei/kg. This was traditionally followed by a period of weekly decrease in wholesale prices. This year this process was smoother than in previous years. “The bottom of the ravine” – the period of stagnation of sales and seasonal minimum of wholesale prices – the Moldovan plum market in 2025 reached the beginning of the last decade of July. Again, two to three weeks later than usual.
By the beginning of September, wholesale plum prices for the “fresh market” in Moldova stabilized in the range of 7-10 lei/kg. At the same time, the average domestic market price of plum “fresh” at the level of 8 lei/kg wholesale at the beginning of this fall is the highest in the five-year period. However, the actual price for plums in Moldova is about 20-30% lower than in Ukraine, Poland and Russia. In general, on the Moldovan market plums are now cheaper than in all other European countries of EastFruitprice monitoring .
Market operators explain relatively low (in the regional context) prices for Moldovan plums by the seasonal decline in external sales. In particular, there are still commodity resources of locally produced plums on the Romanian market during this period. In Germany and Baltic countries, the fruit market has Polish plums – not cheap, but it is cheaper and closer to bring them from the neighboring EU country, and the quality of goods is more stable. Traders believe that a tangible increase in export sales of Moldovan plums and, in parallel with this, a rise in prices for this product, can be expected not earlier than the second half of September. That is, when the stocks of Moldovan plums will be reduced on the European market.
According to expert estimates, the 2025 plum harvest in Moldova will be higher than pessimistic forecasts promised at the end of spring. Most likely, farmers will harvest about 80-90 thousand tons of plums – as last year. Taking into account the fact that events in the plum segment of the Moldovan fruit market are developing slowly, we can predict a relatively long “selling season”.
Read more details in Friday’s issue of Logos Press weekly
