News about Industry

The increase in the price of agricultural inputs due to the war in the Middle East will certainly lead to a reduction in the sowing of many spring crops in the Northern Hemisphere. This process will also affect the Black Sea region, including Moldova. More than other spring crops, it is likely that the area sown with grain maize will shrink by at least 5-10%.

The Republic of Moldova is planning to introduce a carbon tax as part of a new draft law on fees for pollution and use of natural resources.

The global aluminum market is on the verge of a sharp price spike after attacks on key production facilities in the Middle East. Damage to smelters in the UAE and Bahrain could trigger the largest shortage of the metal in recent years.

The overall dynamics of Moldovan industry is unstable and requires radical interventions. Without a clear industrial policy, investment and technologization, the decline in industrial production will continue.

LONDON/LOS ANGELES – China’s just-concluded “Two Sessions” – the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – sent a clear message: technology will be a major driver of the country’s economic future.

Moldovan farmers started sowing sugar beet this week. The sowing campaign started later than usual. Taking into account the weather forecast, it is likely that sowing will be carried out in a short period of time. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAIA) hope that the area of sugar beet plantations for the harvest-2026 in the country will remain at last year’s level – about 11-12 thousand hectares. The pledge of hope is the direct subsidies “per hectare” provided by the new law on subsidies.

Companies have received protection from blocking of bank accounts and forced collection of funds in cases when debts are formed due to unfulfilled obligations of state institutions. The corresponding norm is included in the package of legislative amendments finally approved by the Parliament on Thursday, March 26.

In 2025, the United States was the world’s largest producer of crude oil and condensate, producing 13.58 million barrels per day (mb/d), well ahead of Russia (9.87 mb/d) and Saudi Arabia (9.51 mb/d). Together, these three countries were responsible for 39% of global crude oil production in 2025.

Iran’s strikes on the Ras Laffan gas hub in Qatar disrupted helium production and showed how the conflict is hitting technology and medicine beyond energy markets.

Fendt Chairman of the Board of Management Christoph Groblinghoff predicts that the agricultural machinery market will only resume growth from 2027. At the same time, he warns of increased competition from Chinese agricultural machine manufacturers.

UPDATED. The creation of the Convergence Fund was faced with inconsistency of tax systems: on the right bank of the Nistru River there is VAT, while on the left bank there is turnover tax. This complicates the unification of tax rules. But the authorities are ready to work in a “very friendly manner” to gradually implement unified rules and ensure equal conditions for business on both banks of the Nistru River.

Specifying the country of origin of goods may increase sales of local producers up to 15% in the fresh produce segment. Such a draft was discussed on Wednesday, March 25, in the parliamentary commission for economy, budget and finance.

The March report of the International Grains Council (IGC) forecasts a 1.3% decline in global corn production in the 2026/27 marketing season to 1.303 billion tons. At the same time, global consumption of this grain will increase and is likely to exceed production. The final stocks of corn grain will decrease significantly.

The rules for calculating pensions may be revised. In particular, it is proposed to include in the insurance record periods of childcare by relatives – for example, a grandmother, paternity leave for fathers, as well as to grant the right to an early pension to women with many children.

In Japan, the utilitarian Toyota ProBox was approached with an unusual creative task: to turn a serial working station wagon into a stylized “mini-Land Cruiser 70”. The tuning studio Hakobanya from Fukuoka has undertaken this remodeling, having offered its version under the name 70 BOX – in social networks it is also called “70Yo.70 Destroyer” and similar sounding nicknames. In fact, it is an attempt to create an aggressive crossover-universal in the spirit of “seventy”, which Toyota has never had in this form.

The governments of Moldova and the German state of Baden-Württemberg will set up an intergovernmental mixed commission to expand cooperation in economy, agriculture, energy and other fields.

In February 2026, Moldova’s energy sector recorded a sustained deflationary dynamic: producer prices decreased by more than 5% with respect to all key comparison periods (January 2026, December and February 2025).

Xiaomi (China) has launched its flagship AI model MiMo V2 Pro, which has beaten DeepSeek V3.2, Claude Sonnet 4.6 and DeepSeek V3.2 in the rankings on the “OpenRouter” platform even before its official release, according to Logos Press.

The $80 billion global diamond industry is experiencing one of the most serious crises in history. Demand is declining, both rough and treated stones are becoming cheaper, and market participants have less and less faith in a quick recovery.

For the second year in a row, Kernel Agroholding has maintained absolute leadership in the country’s two key export categories – cereals and sunflower oil – and holds the first position in the overall ranking. In the structure of Ukraine’s exports, every tenth dollar is Kernel’s contribution.