sugar
How much sugar is and will be in Moldova?
“It is still difficult to make a definite judgmentabout the inheritance of Moldova’s sugar business after a very turbulent last year.
In the information note of the Union of Sugar Producers UPZM to the Government of Moldova it is said the following: sugar beet sector of RM is represented by 80 agricultural producers (3,5 thousand workplaces), annually growing sugar beet on the area of 14 thousand hectares; sugar industry has capacities for production of 100 thousand tons of sugar. But this is nominal.
In practice, in 2025 (taking into account the state budget subsidized reseeding of frost-damaged crops) about 11 thousand hectares of sugar beet were cultivated in the country. Moreover, the harvest from more than 2 thousand hectares of beet fields was never harvested (plowed into the soil in the spring of this year, shortly before the start of the sowing campaign).
How much sugar was produced in Moldova from beets of the 2025 crop? According to expert estimates – about 30 thousand tons. What is the current inventory of Moldovan sugar from last year’s beets in the warehouses of its producers and consumers? It is not known reliably. It would be good if the holders of this asset would report the data publicly, and the competent state structures would check this information de facto.
Under the stress of such a completion of the “business plan-2025”, this year some beet growers have renounced this crop, and the remaining ones have reduced its crops by 30-70% compared to last year’s level. As Logos Press reported earlier, the company Sudzucker Moldova reported about its intention to “sow with its agricultural partners” about 6.5 thousand hectares of sugar beet. The second sugar company, Moldova Zahăr, reported nothing about its plans for the new season.
The number of sugar beet farmers in the 2026 season has decreased to two or three dozen at most. A survey of some of them shows that by now about 5 thousand hectares have been sown with sugar beet in Moldova. There was a pause in the sowing campaign the other day due to bad weather – strong wind.
Unfortunately, there are evidences that crops on a considerable area – about 350-450 hectares in total – were seriously affected by blowing away of the sowing layer of soil. This is fraught with expensive reseeding (according to expert estimates, the costs may amount to about 700 euros/ha). It is not clear what resources will be used to carry out this operation.
The sugar beet sector entities negotiated with one of the largest insurance companies in the Republic of Moldova, but it is not known whether an agreement was reached before the insured event – “force majeure” occurred. The probability of farmers to receive financial assistance from the state for two years in a row for resowing beet plantations is illusory.
On top of that, a reasonable agronomic term of sowing sugar beet will be completed already on the current, in an ideal weather situation – next week. That is, the chances of sowing even the area planned for sugar beet are, alas, very slim.
With the current “liability”, mature businessmen of the agro-food sector of Moldova make plans based on the high probability of “pessimistic scenario”. But let us be optimistic – let us accept as a desirable and almost accomplished fact that the weather will be normal for the rest of spring, summer and fall in our long-suffering country. That the beet harvest will be maximized, that it will be harvested in time and processed without losses. In this case, how much domestic sugar will Moldova receive in September-December of this year?
According to expert estimates, the sugar production from beet harvest-2026 will be about 22-25 thousand tons.
What about the import of sugar to Moldova?
In 2026, 9 thousand tons of sugar were imported to Moldova within the duty-free Euro-quota. This quota was “traditionally” chosen (mostly by Moldovan sugar producers) at the very beginning of this year. At the moment, this sugar, we can assume, has already been partially consumed by the domestic market of the country.
Another 5.5 thousand tons of sugar Moldova has the right to import this year within the preferential quota of the WTO (with a 10-percent duty). Within this quota, the government decided to reserve 3,000 tons for industrial consumers of sugar. To date, they have imported more than 2.8 thousand tons of sugar. According to the representatives of the Food Industry Association Speranța-Con, the rest of the quota will be exhausted by the end of next week. After that, as the association’s leadership pointed out in an official letter to the Cabinet of Ministers, food producers risk “total dependence on the two local sugar producers”.
Why did such concerns arise? Because the Cabinet of Ministers has drafted a new sugar import regulation. The main idea of the document is the introduction of an annual tariff quota for sugar in the amount of 3 thousand tons, “limiting imports within the framework of free trade agreements providing for full liberalization of trade for this category of goods”.
In other words, the duty-free import of sugar to Moldova within the framework of free trade agreements with CEFTA countries (presumably, first of all, with sugar-producing Serbia), Ukraine and Belarus should fit within the above limit.
“We do not have full information, but, unfortunately, we have serious reasons to assume that this year on the Moldovan sugar market there may be a physical shortage of products, possibly very significant, tens of thousands of tons,” says Mircea Manole, executive director of Speranța-Con. – In such a situation, the proposal to limit preferential sugar imports, apparently coming from Moldovan (with foreign capital) sugar producing companies, looks absurd. The reality is that Moldova needs imported sugar in the 2026/27 marketing season.
It is worth to admit – the fact that in November last year the government’s decision to reserve for industrial sugar consumers 3 thousand tons of sugar within the “import quota of the WTO” for the current year, has significantly supported the food industry of Moldova. Thus, at the moment, food producers are actively buying imported sugar at the wholesale price of 13.44-13.89 lei/kg (including VAT). At the same time, the Moldovan sugar is offered at the price of 14,80-15,80 lei/kg (including VAT). There are reasons to assume that as soon as the “industrial quota” will be chosen soon, we will again find ourselves in the “risk zone”.
Taking into account the shortage of sugar beet and unclear prospects of its harvest in Moldova, as well as taking into account the permanent attempts to limit preferential import of sugar, there is an opinion that closer to the fall the wholesale price for sugar may soar up to 17 lei/kg. According to our calculations, this is above the level that allows the Moldovan food industry to stay in the “zone of competitiveness”.
Last week, the expediency of limiting sugar imports in 2026 under regional and interstate free trade agreements, of which Moldova is currently a part, was challenged in a collective letter of the country’s food industry operators addressed to the leadership of the Parliament. The letter was signed by two sectoral associations (Speranța-Con and the National Association of Baking and Flour Milling Industry of RM), as well as a dozen and a half enterprises, including leaders in their sectors: PURATOS-MOLD SRL, BUCURIA SA, PANILINO SRL, ORHEI-VIT SRL, ALFA NISTRU SA, JLC SRL and others.
Apparently, this action had an impact. At least, the State Chancellery notified the organizations concerned that the draft decree on the new sugar import regulations was withdrawn at the end of last week. Whether this was final or for adjustment is not known.
In this regard, it is worth mentioning that, in their turn, sugar producers tried to collect signatures of business associations (EBA, FIA, AmCam) under a letter to the Government, which states that it is advisable to limit the import of sugar to Moldova under free trade agreements not even to 3, but 1 thousand tons. However, without success – the mentioned associations decided to remain neutral. But won’t such attempts continue? That is the question.
How much sugar does Moldova need “for full happiness”?
In a reference to the government, the Union of Sugar Producers of Moldova UPZM indicated that the annual capacity of the Moldovan sugar market is about 65-70 thousand tons. Industrial consumers of this product, from the same Speranța-Con and the National Association of Baking and Flour Milling Industry, tend to believe that in a crisis year – when everyone wants to relieve stress by eating more sweets – the country will need a little more sugar: about 70-75 thousand tons.
By and large, the difference in estimates is not too great. But this is in case the sugar market of Moldova will have an opportunity to quickly and smoothly “equalize the balance”, including at the expense of preferential import of sugar. (In brackets it should be reminded that in the usual regime sugar imports to Moldova are subject to “blocking duty” – 75%).
In principle, such a possibility appears – this week, after a 200-day pause, established by the Moldovan government in November last year, the free trade regime for sugar within the CEFTA agreement is being restored. Does this mean that from next week the “frenzy” of sugar imports to RM, particularly from Serbia, will resume?
Far from a fact. At least, Adrian Lipcan, the administrator of the Sugar Bridge importing company, states that “in the current situation of unpredictable state administration and filling of the Moldovan sugar market, it is hardly worth risking large investments in sugar imports – it is worth waiting for more or less objective information about the prospects of sugar production and trade”.
“We need stability and predictability of the ‘rules of the game’,” says Sergiu Guzun, founder and administrator of Panilino. – We are a relatively small (about 500-600 tons per year) but demanding sugar consumer. We need to have a market offer of sugar assortment – for this or that type of baking, and at competitive prices. In the current conditions, for this purpose, we obviously need both Moldovan and imported sugar”.
