According to data from Moldova’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), re-export volumes fell to €401.5 million in the first seven months of 2026, whilst shipments of domestic products are showing steady double-digit growth.
Economic authorities note that the era of the ‘transit boom’ is giving way to the strengthening of export potential. The driving force behind this growth has been the export of domestic goods, which jumped by 15.6 per cent to €1.57 billion.
Trends in Moldova’s re-exports
The surge and subsequent decline in the re-export of foreign goods are clearly evident in the annual statistics. Peak figures were recorded in 2022–2023. Against the backdrop of changes in regional logistics, the re-export of goods from Moldova reached record volumes, exceeding $1.1–1.2 billion per year. It is fair to say that the republic served as a key transhipment hub for neighbouring countries.
The decline in re-export operations began in 2024. By the end of the year, both conventional and processed re-exports had fallen by 28.1 per cent, dropping to $846.8 million (around 23.8 per cent of total exports). Last year, the decline continued, albeit at a slower pace. Re-exports fell by a further 5.1 per cent to $803.7 million, whilst their share of total exports fell to 21.2 per cent.
This year, the downward trend has continued. ‘Foreign’ goods now account for only around 20 per cent of the country’s export portfolio, which is 1.3 per cent less than in the same period of 2025. As a result, the total value of exports fell by 0.3 per cent.
According to the National Bank of Serbia (NBS), re-exports of foreign goods following processing accounted for 14.3 per cent of total exports. These include clothing and clothing accessories; footwear and parts for footwear; wires, cables and other electrical conductors; electrical transformers, static converters, reactance and inductance coils; parts and accessories for motor vehicles; tricycles, scooters and similar toys; ordinary shelled walnuts; chairs and chair parts.
Meanwhile, the re-export of foreign goods that have not undergone substantial processing (petrol; diesel fuel; sunflower oil; medicines; shelled walnuts; plastic products for transport and packaging; air conditioners and appliances) accounted for 6.1 per cent of the total volume.
The ‘bridge between East and West’ is temporarily closed
The decline in re-exports in 2026 is no coincidence, but the result of a confluence of several factors, including logistics and geopolitics.
In 2022–2023, Moldova became a makeshift ‘lifeline’ for Ukrainian businesses due to the blockade of the Black Sea ports. Huge volumes of fuel, lubricants, grain and equipment passed through the republic.
By 2025, the situation had changed: the need to transport goods via a complex transit route through Moldovan customs, followed by re-export clearance, had simply disappeared. At that point, Ukraine launched its own logistics operations from ports in the Odesa region, whilst the direct Danube ports (Reni, Izmail) and rail routes bypassing Moldova and leading directly to the EU began operating at full capacity.
Whilst little changed in the first half of 2026, experts believe that from the second half onwards, the situation regarding re-exports to Ukraine could swing one way or the other. In any case, the capacity of border crossings and railways remains limited.
It has become cheaper for foreign traders to transport goods directly via Polish, Romanian (Constanța) or Balkan hubs, bypassing Moldova and taking into account the ongoing hostilities. Strict sanctions controls at the border at the slightest suspicion of an ‘eastern’ destination for goods, and a shift in business strategy – with companies no longer viewing Moldova as a transhipment point to take advantage of the duty-free trade regime – have also played a part.
Which sectors have been hit hardest?
The collapse of the transit boom has hit hardest those sectors which, between 2022 and 2024, accounted for Moldova’s ‘virtual’ exports through the transhipment of foreign goods.
These are, first and foremost, the assembly of automotive components and a reduction in volumes in sectors operating under the lohn scheme (raw materials supplied by the client, which are imported, processed and re-exported), particularly in the textile industry. As for other transit goods, experts believe that the fate of re-exports will be influenced mainly by politics and geopolitics.
Viecheslav Ionita, an expert at IDIS “Viitorul”, points out that following the historic peak in total exports in the first quarter of 2023 ($4.34 billion on an annualised basis) – which was fuelled precisely by logistics transit – the economy experienced a natural downturn.
In his view, the decline in re-exports represents “a natural market correction, as Moldova is losing its role as a de facto logistics hub”. The expert regards the fact that exports returned to growth in 2026 as a positive sign, but points out that the structure of this growth has changed.
Ionice highlights an interesting trend: whilst the re-export of goods is falling, Moldova is transitioning to a ‘knowledge economy’ model. The country is setting historic records for exports of services (the IT sector, business logistics, call centres), which are rapidly approaching the $3 billion mark and are effectively offsetting the shortfall caused by imports of physical goods.
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