News about International trade
Due to the crisis in the Middle East, global gas prices have increased. However, Moldova has not suffered yet – the country does not import gas from this region. Moreover, purchases are made under contracts indexed one month in advance. The director general of the National Energy Regulatory Agency (ANRE), Aleksey Taran, assured that the regulated gas price will remain unchanged for the time being.
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.
The war in Iran is shaking the world economy more and more thoroughly. Global financial markets are showing signs of growing panic amid escalating conflict in the Middle East and a sharp jump in energy prices, analysts say.
Swiss watch exports showed strong growth in February 2026, reinforcing the signal of recovering demand for luxury goods. According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, shipments abroad increased by 9.2% year-on-year to CHF 2.168 billion, compared to a 3.6% decline a month earlier.
At the opening of the session, oil was trading around $110 per barrel. As of 5:55 Moscow time, the cost of May futures for Brent increased by 4.5% to $112.26 per barrel. In general, oil rose in price by about 11% during the week, and for the month the growth exceeded 50%.
Moldova may abolish import customs duties on more than 90% of goods from the USA, keeping them on some sensitive groups (meat, milk and products from them, as well as sugar, sucrose, fructose, etc.). A corresponding parliamentary initiative has been registered in Parliament.
On Wednesday, March 18, global oil prices showed a decline after the news of resumption of oil exports from Iraq’s Kirkuk fields to the Turkish port of Ceyhan.
The European e-cigarette market is now at the peak of growth, but almost half of the turnover is out of state control. This is the conclusion reached by the authors of a new international study on the structure of the illegal vape market in Europe, presented at a press conference by experts from Fraunhofer IIS and MRU GmbH (Germany).
The norm of the minimum stock of gasoline in Moldova is reduced from 8,000 tons to 5,000 tons. At the same time, the retail sale of diesel in consumer containers is limited to 20 liters per purchase. These measures are taken by the government in order to optimize the use of storage capacity and avoid blocking stocks.
Asian countries are seen as major buyers of Russian oil as exports are being redirected and supplies cut through familiar routes. CNBC reports that countries are lining up for resources from Russia.
Russian law enforcement authorities have uncovered a large-scale fraudulent scheme for illegal VAT refunds used when importing Moldovan apples into the Russian Federation.
Ukraine has agreed to EU technical and financial assistance to resume oil supplies through the Druzhba oil pipeline.
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.
US President Donald Trump has called for an investigation into how Ukraine has been spending US-directed funds.
Moldova is on the 5th place in the ranking of European countries with the lowest prices for chicken eggs.
The military conflict over Iran is beginning to affect not only oil markets, but also a much less obvious segment – the global pistachio trade.
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.
Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization Eugeniu Osmokescu is on a working visit to Washington, DC this week. During his visit, he held a series of meetings at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) office and Widelity Inc. to discuss specific areas of investment and cooperation.
Chairman António Costa said that threats against EU leaders were unacceptable, commenting on Ukrainian President Zelensky’s remarks against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
