Agribusiness
In the period from July 2025 to February 2026 inclusive, the Republic of Moldova exported 66.8 thousand tons of sunflower oil, which is almost six times higher than the extremely low volume of the previous season (only 11.65 thousand tons). In the current season, the processing of products inside the country resumed.
With the beginning of spring agricultural works, the National Center for Research and Seed Production (CNCPS) will intensify its activities in production and research areas. This year, the institution will allocate about 2.6 thousand hectares of agricultural land for commercial cultivation of spring crop seeds and experimental demonstration plots.
In January-February 2026, Moldova sent more than 17 thousand tons of grapes to foreign markets. Its exports continue in March, but the purchase prices of winegrowers are discouraging.
In the first two months of 2026 compared to the same period last year, Ukraine increased exports of rapeseed oil in value terms by 34 times – from $3 million to $102 million.
Under the new regulations, local authorities will be obliged to identify ragweed-contaminated areas, map out ragweed hotspots and potential areas of spread, and coordinate with owners to eradicate this invasive plant. At the national level, public institutions in the fields of agriculture, environment and health will be responsible for informing and controlling ragweed control campaigns.
During the Soviet period, the Central Asian republics were stereotypically perceived as an arid region. But over the last 40 years, water availability per capita in the region has become even more scarce – it has decreased by more than three times.
During an inspection at the Leuseni border crossing point, inspectors from the National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) found a very large (more than 9.3 tons) of imported peppers that did not comply with national regulations.
Moldova is on the 5th place in the ranking of European countries with the lowest prices for chicken eggs.
The global food market was highly vulnerable to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, through which one third of the world’s urea exports pass. Military action in the Middle East has threatened global food security by paralyzing the production and export of critical fertilizers.
Between March 9 and March 15, 2026, several new outbreaks of dangerous animal diseases – rabies and African swine fever – were detected in the Republic of Moldova.
Forța Fermierilor, an association of producers and processors of grain and oilseeds, strongly disagrees with the model of financial assistance to farmers in connection with the rise in the price of diesel fuel envisaged in the draft government decree.
Last week, the Agency for Interventions and Payments in Agriculture (AIPA) authorized a total of 24.4 million lei in subsidies to be paid to farmers. While most of the previous tranche of payments from the National Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development of RM was mainly aimed at paying off the arrears of post-investment subsidies for 2024, the current one is subsidies in advance and for insurance.
The Chinese government is responding to sulfur supply disruptions due to conflict in the Middle East and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. The move has sharply raised shipping costs and sulfur prices, posing serious risks to the production of phosphate fertilizer needed for China’s spring planting campaign. The country imports about 47% of its sulphur, mostly from the Persian Gulf, so any disruption to transportation routes has a direct impact on domestic fertilizer production.
The Council of the Association “Forța Fermierilor” approved Alexandru Slusar as the executive director of the organization.
Against the background of the crisis in the sugar beet industry and the prospects of importing agricultural products under the agreement with Mercosur, the European Union has allowed the import of transgenic corn and the production of genetically modified sugar beet.
On Friday, the governing Food Safety Agency (ANSA) issued an order authorizing the resumption of imports of frozen and chilled poultry meat from a poultry farm (Cherkassy, Ukraine) owned by Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP).
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, export growth, which began in July 2025, continued in January 2026.
Agricultural exports in 2025 have recovered after a three-year decline. However, its structure points to a serious problem: while supplies of raw materials are increasing, exports of processed products are declining.
After the successful completion of the trial deliveries stage, domestic orchardists received official confirmation: Ukrainian products meet India’s high standards. This paves the way for signing long-term contracts, which in the long term can ensure the export of up to 500 containers (about 10,000 tons) of apples annually.
The renewal of the administrative board, as well as the problems of importing bee families and the quality of exported products were the focus of the general meeting of the National Association of Beekeepers of Moldova (ANARM) on March 13.
