News about Agribusiness

The Agricultural Interventions and Payments Agency (AIPA) last week authorized the disbursement of Lei 31.19 million from the National Fund for Agriculture and Rural Development as advance payments for investment projects.

Banks are ready to meet the needs of agricultural enterprises that find themselves in a difficult situation, but if there are prospects of recovery of the economic agent. This opinion was expressed by the chairman of the Association of Banks of Moldova, Dorel Noroc, specifying that only bank crediting is not enough for such companies.

The Republic of Moldova is hosting the 65th General Assembly of the Permanent Regional Working Group on Rural Development (SWG) of South Eastern Europe during April 21-22. The meeting will bring together officials from member countries and experts in the field from France, Hungary and Germany, which opens up opportunities for enhanced cooperation, including with non-member states.

A family of farmers in West Flanders (Belgium) decided to give away 120 tons of potatoes for free. The patrons said that people come from many parts of the country and even from France for the potatoes. The decision was prompted by a decrease in the price of potatoes due to surplus production in Europe.

In October 2025, the Moldovan government imposed a de facto ban on sugar imports from Serbia to the Moldovan market for a period of 200 days under the pretext of protecting the sector. This measure was presented as a supportive measure to give local sugar producers another hypothetical chance to “perk up”. Even at the cost of quite real sacrifices imposed on the entire food industry of Moldova. Let us assess what happened in the end.

For the first quarter of 2026, Ukrainian ports fulfilled the transshipment plan by 98% – more than 21 million tons of cargo.

The European Commission forecasts for 2026 an increase in sunflower plantings in the countries of the Union by 5%, the harvest – by 1.2 million tons (up to 9.6 million tons). As a result, production of this raw material in the EU may turn out to be the highest in the last three years.

Ukrainian shellfish producers shipped 244 tons of products to foreign markets in the first quarter, which is 27.1% more than in the same period last year.

If a store customer wants to make sure that the minimum shelf life of purchased chicken eggs has not yet expired, he or she will be able to do so. This week, a government decree was officially published and came into force, obliging egg producers to provide detailed information on the packaging.

In March 2026, only 742 thousand tons of sunflower oil were exported from Moldova. This is literally a collapse of external supplies compared to their dynamics in February – 3.2 thousand tons.

Wheat could post its strongest weekly gain in nearly two months. Drought and dry weather in key regions, including the U.S. Great Plains, Australia, and parts of the Black Sea region and Europe, have weighed on the outlook for wheat supplies.

The global garden strawberry market enters the 2026 season in a state of the “typical paradox” of the fruit business: in many regions, supply is increasing, but profitability remains fragile.

Under the Farm Credit Program (FCA), the Agricultural Working Capital (AWC) line of credit is allocated, which provides soft loans to farmers to cover current production costs.

In the first quarter of 2026, the Organization for the Development of Entrepreneurship (ODA), in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Digitalization (MDED), continued the implementation of grant programs to support entrepreneurs. During this period, the total amount allocated by the Entrepreneurship Development Organization to 135 grantee companies amounted to 23.74 million lei.

In 2025, the Moldovan wine sector showed growth in the main indicators. The harvest of technical grape varieties amounted to 259 thousand tons, which was higher than the initial forecast of 220 thousand tons. This was reported by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Andrian Digolian.

The National Food Safety Agency (ANSA) has stopped large consignments of imported vegetables – green crops – at the Moldovan border “with clear signs of spoilage”.

Corn exports from the Republic of Moldova are not limited to the supply of this grain as a raw material. A significant part of the harvest goes a longer way to international markets – in the form of ethanol produced at the country’s processing plants. Ethanol (and its by-products – feed additives) accounts for 44% of the value chain of Moldova’s corn sector.

Pollination services involve costs for beekeepers, so they should be paid at least modestly, says Ion Maxim, director of the National Association of Beekeepers of Moldova (ANARM).

Romania has set a record for wheat exports in the 2025-26 season. According to Eurostat, in July-January the country shipped the largest volume to foreign markets for this period, exceeding the average for the last five years by 2 million tons.

The National Employment Agency presented a new top-10 list of the most active employers in Moldova’s agricultural sector. The selection includes companies offering official employment, competitive salaries and opportunities for professional growth. The most demanded professions are tractor drivers and agronomists.