The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova plans a working visit of a government delegation to Egypt in February to hold consultations on an interstate free trade agreement with the ministries and departments of Egypt. The Moldovan Ministry of Economy is currently finalizing the draft document. If it is coordinated quickly and successfully with the Egyptian party, the agreement may be concluded as early as the spring of 2022.

Representatives of organizations of producers and exporters of fruit products claim that they have previously submitted to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (MAIA) their proposals for cooperation on trade in agri-food products with Egypt. In their opinion, a better option would be to sign not a comprehensive free trade agreement between states, but an agreement on commercial preferences for a list of products.

While studying this issue with Middle Eastern trading partners (owners of enterprises in Moldova exporting fruits to the UAE and North Africa), experts from fruit growing associations concluded that Moldovan apples, table grapes and dried plums may be the most demanded on the Egyptian market. Citrus and exotic fruits, as well as some types of vegetables from Egypt could be supplied to the Moldovan market.

Traders who plan to export apples to Egypt in the near future note that these are most likely to be average-quality apples exported to Cairo – in particular, apples with a diameter of 65-70 mm, red and mostly sweet varieties (although sweet and sour “Idared” is not rejected right away). Given the simpler and faster transport logistics and less stringent product quality requirements, Moldovan exporters regard the Egyptian market as more accessible than the markets of the Middle East. In their opinion, the main deterrent for the active supply of Moldovan fruits to Egypt is the high import duty (about $200/tonne).

In addition, some participants in the Moldovan agri-food market claim that Turkish business is resisting the establishment of preferential trade between Moldova and Egypt. Turkey benefits from the free trade agreement with Moldova – Turkish citrus fruits and vegetables dominate the Moldovan market during certain periods of the marketing year. Also, suppliers of Turkish apples are actively increasing their presence in the Egyptian fruit market.

Сообщение Moldovan government plans to sign an agreement on preferential fruit exports with Egypt появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts draw attention to the abnormally high prices for fresh apples on the Uzbek market this season. Currently, wholesale prices for popular varieties of fresh apples, even of average quality, are mainly higher than those for imported citrus fruits and bananas. High-quality apples are sold at even higher prices. Only table grapes and pears are more expensive than apples in wholesale trade.

It should be noted that there are less popular apple varieties on the market, which are sold cheaper than bananas, oranges or mandarins. Wholesale prices for local varieties or Renet Simirenko of medium and low quality are almost twice lower than for Golden Delicious and Granny Smith and start at 8 000 UZS/kg, which is equivalent to $0.74. This is quite expensive, too, considering that the prices in Ukraine or Moldova are 2-3 times lower.

What is the reason for such high prices for apples in Uzbekistan? Many attribute this to a low apple harvest due to frost. In particular, in an interview for EastFruit, the director of Fruit House Organics and intensive farming specialist Shukhrat Abrorov said that the apple harvest in many regions was largely affected by spring frosts. Unfortunately, frost protection systems in the orchards of Uzbekistan, as a rule, are not used.

The second reason is the relatively high prices for apples this year in Iran, which could partially compensate for the shortage. According to local traders, Iran harvested less apples in 2021 than in 2020, which, obviously, was caused by spring frosts that destroyed part of the crop in Uzbekistan.

The third reason is the remoteness of Uzbekistan from other apple exporting countries, which makes the supply of fresh apples to the country quite expensive. This is exacerbated by the fact that the cost of logistics has also risen sharply in all countries of the world, including our region, in 2021. Neighboring Tajikistan already imports apples from Ukraine and Moldova, but prices are also quite high there. Moldovan apples have already become available in stores in Uzbekistan, too.

As you can see in the chart above, Uzbekistan is the leader in terms of prices for apples of the most popular varieties. Prices there are almost twice as high as in neighboring Tajikistan and prices for Golden Delicious apples are 7 times higher than in Ukraine. As for the cheapest apple varieties, prices in Uzbekistan are on average 3.5 times higher than in the Ukrainian market.

Given the situation in the regional apple market, we do not expect a decrease in apple prices in Uzbekistan until the very beginning of the next season. And this means that those Uzbek growers who have installed frost protection systems and built modern fruit storage facilities where they can store apples until spring can count on very high profits at the end of the season.

Сообщение Why apples are more expensive than bananas and citrus fruits in Uzbekistan, and when will the prices decrease? появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts compared the wholesale prices for fruits in Uzbekistan at the end of January 2022 with the prices recorded at the same time last year and figured out that most categories of local fruits have risen in price significantly. On the other hand, imported fruits such as citrus fruits and bananas have fallen in price.

Obviously, the decline in prices for bananas, oranges and mandarins is due to the decision of the Government of Uzbekistan dated October 21, 2021 to temporarily cancel import duties on a number of fruits. As a result, wholesale prices for bananas in Uzbekistan on January 28, 2022 were 17% lower than last year, prices for oranges were 22% lower, and prices for mandarins were 23% lower than in 2021. It should also be added that the Uzbek sum devalued by only 3% in a year. However, since we are talking about imports, we can say that real prices have fallen even more.

It can be seen on the example of bananas that their prices in the Uzbek market are at a much lower level than usual. In addition to the abolition of import duties, increasing competition among supermarket chains in the retail market of Uzbekistan, in particular, among foreign ones, stimulates a decrease in prices in the market. After all, supermarket chains prefer to work with imported fruits, which they can import directly and sell at a competitive price.

Read also: Uzbekistan imported a record volume of oranges in 2021

At the same time, prices for table grapes, which were sold very cheap during the season, are now already 7% higher than last year. Although grape production in Uzbekistan has increased in 2021, it is likely that the storage infrastructure, as well as growing technologies to maintain the quality of grapes until spring, leave much to be desired in the country.

Wholesale prices in Uzbekistan for pears are now 9% higher than at this time in 2021, and apple prices are on average 80% higher. Apple production in the country in 2021 decreased due to frost, which influenced prices.

Сообщение Uzbekistan: over the year prices have increased for all fruits, except bananas and citrus fruits появились сначала на EastFruit.

EastFruit analysts draw attention to the most important factor of recent weeks for the fruit and vegetable business in the region – sharp jumps in the exchange rate of the Turkish currency – lira.

Since the beginning of 2021, the Turkish lira exchange rate has more than halved. Moreover, the exchange rate collapsed the most in the last three weeks. Following the collapse of the exchange rate, a sharp rise in the value of the currency started quite often, as the Turkish government tried to stop the rapid devaluation in every possible way.

Naturally, a decrease in the exchange rate of any country stimulates exports, while strengthening, on the contrary, worsens the position of the country’s goods in foreign markets. Thus, Turkish vegetables and fruits are now becoming more competitive in foreign markets. In this regard, EastFruit analysts decided to examine the structure and geography of Turkey’s fruit and vegetable exports in order to show how and who will be most affected by the situation in Turkey.

First of all, vegetables, fruits and nuts, and food and agricultural products generally, are not the most important export commodities of Turkey. Only nuts are among the 25 largest export commodities. Nevertheless, fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, as well as dried fruits and frozen fruits and vegetables brought Turkey $5.7 billion in export earnings by the end of 2020.

For comparison, Uzbekistan exported 8 times less fruits and vegetables, and Ukraine and Moldova – about 20 times less than Turkey. Turkey ranks 8th in the global ranking of exporters of fruit and vegetable products, not far behind Italy and Chile. By the end of 2021, it may well rise to the 6th position among the world’s largest exporters.

Turkey is also a quite large importer of fruits and vegetables, annually purchasing fruits and vegetables worth about $1 billion abroad. Accordingly, the devaluation of the lira will make imports more expensive, meaning that we can expect a decrease in Turkey’s purchases of fruits, vegetables and nuts abroad.

What are the main markets for Turkey? Where will the pressure of Turkish goods be most noticeable and which of the goods will Turkey begin to purchase in smaller volumes?

Russia is the main buyer of Turkish fruit and vegetables. Turkey supplies up to 18% of all its products to Russia. Accordingly, the pressure on the Russian market will be most noticeable. Germany, Italy, Iraq, Great Britain and France are next, and Ukraine is the 7th among the most important sales markets.

Therefore, Turkish products will become more actively sold to Ukraine and will compete with Ukrainian ones in the markets of the EU countries. However, we are talking only about a few positions, and we will tell you further about product markets to be affected by the devaluation of the Turkish lira.

The main export commodity of the Turkish fruit and vegetable group is hazelnuts. This is bad news for Georgia, as Turkish hazelnuts will become even more affordable at a fairly high quality. And this season Georgia is already forced to export hazelnuts at very low prices. This could further increase the pressure on the prices of Georgian hazelnuts in the EU countries.

Raisins are the second most important Turkish export product. However, Turkey has almost no influence on the markets important for our region, as it supplies raisins mainly to the EU.

Mandarins are the third most important export commodity. This also poses threat to Georgia experiencing problems with the quality of mandarins this year, as in the case of hazelnuts. Accordingly, cheaper and better quality Turkish mandarins will create competition for mandarin suppliers from Georgia. Even bans on the import of mandarins to Russia from several Turkish exporters will not significantly affect the situation. On the other hand, cheap Turkish mandarins are good for consumers in Ukraine and Russia, but they may indirectly reduce the demand for apples there, which is bad news for the region’s farmers.

Greenhouse tomatoes are the next most important goods among Turkish fruit and vegetable exports. Of course, the key importing countries are Russia and Ukraine. In this regard, local greenhouses will have a hard time, because Turkish products will be sold cheaper. By the way, the devaluation of the Turkish lira is one of the main reasons why a high increase in prices for greenhouse vegetables never happened in these northern countries. After all, given the high prices for gas and other energy resources, there were fears that the prices for greenhouse tomatoes would skyrocket to unprecedented levels.

Apple is the category of Turkish exports that also has a direct impact on the regional and global apple market. We wrote more about the influence of Turkey in the #freshapplecrisis article. The devaluation of lira is bad news for our farmers, as Turkish apples are becoming more affordable. This will have the greatest negative impact on Moldova, and, to a lesser extent, on Ukraine.

The influence on many of Turkey’s other export positions will be much smaller, minimal, or seasonal. For example, Turkey is the most important player in the stone fruit market: cherries, apricots, peaches, etc. However, the new export season for these crops starts later, so it is too early to draw conclusions about the impact of devaluation on these segments.

Note that the devaluation of the lira will affect not only exports, but also Turkey’s huge fruit and vegetable imports.

The main import commodity that will impact the markets of our region is inshell walnuts. Ukraine and Uzbekistan will be directly affected by the devaluation, since they are among the major suppliers of inshell walnuts to Turkey. However, their positions have already lowered when they did not receive import preferences and had to pay import duties on nuts.

Turkey is also a major hub for the re-export of dried fruits. Some of them are imported by Turkey from Uzbekistan and other countries of Central Asia. However, since the business is re-export, the devaluation of the lira will not impact it greatly.

Devaluation in Turkey has been accompanied by rising inflation. This means that the incomes of the country’s population will decline. Respectively, we can expect a decrease in domestic consumption as a whole in the category of expensive products.

The instability in Turkey will have a large impact on the regional fruit and vegetable market. This factor may become dominant for importers from Eastern Europe for the entire winter and spring periods.

Сообщение How will the collapse of the Turkish Lira affect the vegetable, fruit and nut markets in Eastern Europe and Central Asia? появились сначала на EastFruit.

The harvesting season for Hayward kiwi in the regions of Western Georgia is at its peak. Growers tell EastFruit about average yields, stable local prices and higher export prices. In general, the weather did not have a serious negative impact on the 2021 harvest, but intense rains in late summer and early autumn did not significantly affect size of fruits, as was the case with mandarins this season.

According to Demur Pipia, head of the Georgian Kiwi Producers Association, it is expected to harvest a total of 90-100 tonnes of kiwi, which is an average yield. The association sells its harvest to Nergeta, the largest kiwi producer and exporter in Georgia. Nergeta has its requirements: it buys only large-caliber fruits from farmers (at least 94 grams). The rest of the association’s harvest is sold on the local market.

Nergeta has raised farm prices for kiwi from GEL 3.8/kg ($1.15) last season to GEL 4.5/kg ($1.43) today. Despite the higher prices, farmers do not see much improvement in this, as the real prices of various products in the country have risen significantly. In addition, high-quality kiwis make up only 30-40% of the total harvest. The price of smaller fruits in the local market is around GEL 2/kg ($0.63), which, according to farmers, is unchanged from several previous seasons.

Farmers note that local prices are influenced by imports, mainly from Iran. Georgia exports kiwi to Japan and Germany in small volumes, while importing it all year round – most of the imports are from November to April. In the 2020-2021 season (November-April), imports amounted to 1,183 tonnes, while the local harvest in 2020 was estimated at 1,500 tonnes. The data shows that imports are getting cheaper every year. In October 2021, Georgia imported 97 tonnes of kiwis at $390 per tonne (CIF), which is 15% cheaper than the price in October 2018 – $460 per tonne (CIF).

Сообщение Kiwi season in Georgia: high-quality kiwi makes up only around 40% of the harvest появились сначала на EastFruit.

Prices for lemons in Poland have remained at a very low level since January, according to analysts of the EastFruit project with a link to the Fresh-Market website. Traders offer these citrus fruits in large wholesale at 3.00-5.50 zlotys/kg ($0.81-1.49/kg) depending on the country of origin, packaging, and quality of the products offered. Today, the offer of lemons on the Polish market is represented from two countries: Turkey and Spain. That being said, it should be noted that Turkish lemons are usually cheaper than Spanish ones.

The low prices for lemons in the current season are the result of the increased supply of these citrus fruits on the Polish market. The USDA estimates that the EU’s 2020/21 lemons will be harvested at 1.6 million tons, which is approximately 160,000 tons greater than a year earlier. It is important to note that the estimated growth in consumption of lemons is approximately 150,000 tons with a decrease in imports by about 30,000 tons. However, processing of lemons will be greatly reduced, according to USDA estimates, by 150,000 tons as a result of the pandemic and the closure of the HoReCa channel.

Read also: Tajik producers are urged to build infrastructure to store lemons properly

Today, lemon purchases are much lower than during the first wave of the pandemic, which also puts pressure on prices in the citrus segment.

However, come this spring, wholesale prices for lemons may change both in the European and Polish markets. The supply of lemons from Spain and Turkey decreases significantly in the spring. Argentina continues to have a European lemon embargo and Argentina’s harvest is expected to be 30% lower than last year. It can be assumed that prices for lemon will rise. Maybe not as fast as a year ago, but the reduction in the supply of these citrus fruits will affect pricing most likely.

Сообщение Lemons in Poland cost less than a year ago появились сначала на EastFruit.

Sales of fresh vegetables and fruits have sharply increased in Moldova. According to supermarket chain managers in the capital, in the last week of December, the retail turnover of fruit and vegetable departments increased by 15% compared with the beginning of the month. Of course, this was due to the pre-holiday rush demand, which is quite traditional for this period.

Managers of large chain stores also note that citrus fruits like sweet oranges and mandarins turned out to be the most highly liquid product. One market in Chisinau (with an area of ​​up to 1,000 square meters) sold about 1 ton of citrus fruits per day. This is two and a half times the daily rate in any of the previous months of the year. Usually, in December, over 7,000 tons of exotic fruits are imported to Moldova, two-thirds of which are citrus fruits. December of 2020, despite all the anomalies, was no exception to the established tradition.

Read also: In Moldova, perennial plantations will come out of the December warming without damage

Bananas ranked second in popularity of fruits with up to 400 kg per day sold in one chain store. The third is Turkish garnet, which in December 2020 had the best price-quality ratio. Apples, pears, quinces, and plums remained among the outsiders in terms of goods turnover. These fruits have never been referred to by the consumer as a “New Year’s set” so each of these items is sold in the range of 50-100 kg per day. The upper limit falls mainly on two apple varieties: Jonagold and Golden.

As for vegetables, potatoes were still the sales leader. Its daily turnover in one retail outlet varied between 500-700 kg. Sales of carrots, onions, beets, and cabbage were still several times lower and are limited to 100-200 kg per day. The demand for these positions usually grows in the last two days of the year, so retail expected to increase their turnover by 25-30% by year-end.

Despite the overall high sales activity, retail prices in the Moldovan trade remained unchanged when compared with the situation at the turn of November-December. Small price jumps (within 3-5%), in particular, for apples, grapes, zucchini, tomatoes, and cucumbers were caused by the change in the price of their delivery in December (in particular, from the EU). However, retailers are trying to keep the price level the same by reducing their own margins and asking for discounts from suppliers.

Businessmen point out that retail prices for certain types of products were even reduced compared to the level at the beginning of December. We are talking about the entire range of citrus fruits, which have their peak sales in December-January. Discounts were also set for the ultra-fresh line namely broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce.

In general, the pricing policy of Moldovan retail will apparently remain unchanged until February, when the activity of seasonal supplies decreases. The first significant price jump is expected in early March 2021.

Сообщение Sales of fresh fruits and vegetables jumped in Moldovan supermarkets before New Year’s появились сначала на EastFruit.

A few days before the New Year, EastFruit specialists analyzed in detail the outgoing year of 2020 highlighting the main distinctive features of the “New Year’s tables” in the current and previous seasons. The good news is that prices have mostly decreased and the choice has become much wider.

Ukraine ended last year in a completely different reality, but no one could have known a global pandemic was coming. The rapid spread of COVID-19, as well as the often chaotic and unpredictable actions of the Ukrainian authorities in these conditions, had a direct impact on the fruit and vegetable sector of Ukraine. How did it affect the prices of vegetables and fruits on the eve of the New Year holidays? Let’s analyze wholesale prices, which, as a rule, change more significantly than retail prices.

We will start with the main fruit in Ukraine – the apple.

Despite farmers’ statements that the 2020 apple harvest in Ukraine will be 15% or even 30% lower than in 2019, the estimates of independent experts refute these claims, in particular, the analysts of APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits. It is already obvious that the gross apple harvest in Ukraine for 2020 exceeded the indicators of 2019 by 5-7%. Experts stated that weather disasters if they did not completely destroy the apple harvest in 2020, did such damage that the share of sub-standard and/or second-grade products exceeded the previous indicators by at least 30%. To the disappointment of Ukrainian farmers, supermarkets were no longer lining up in front of them for an apple of any quality as it was a year ago.

As a result, Ukrainian farmers still have enough apples of the second grade and sales are carried out at prices starting from 7 UAH/kg ($0.25/kg). In 2019, it was impossible to buy an apple for less than 10 UAH/kg. High-quality apples are currently on sale, as in 2019, at 16 UAH/kg ($0.57/kg), but the volume of quality products this year is much lower than at the end of last year. It is precisely the insufficient supply of high-quality apples that will most likely prevent Ukrainian producers from increasing the volume of apple exports this season.

Read also: Pre-holiday prices in Moldova for citrus fruits rose 14%, salad vegetables fell 11%

Thus, an apple is on average sold in UAH 10-15% cheaper. If we take into account that the hryvnia exchange rate against the US dollar fell by about 17% over the year, then the real incomes of Ukrainian apple producers fell by almost a third.

Mandarins are the number 1 fruit on the New Year’s table of Ukrainians. According to experts, no problems with the harvest of this fruit have been recorded in the main producing countries this season. International trade for New Year’s Eve was carried out without any particular difficulties and the wholesale prices for mandarins are only marginally higher than last year’s figures. A wide price range of 26-40 UAH/kg for these citrus fruits are explained by the different quality parameters, variety types, and country of production. A special increase in the cost of mandarins among Ukrainian consumers is not expected despite the depreciation of the national currency.

The range of wholesale prices for lemons, which are currently on sale at prices ranging at 28-55 UAH/kg, has also significantly expanded at the end of 2020. In this case, EastFruit experts explain the colossal difference in prices precisely by the different quality indicators of lemons that are present on the Ukrainian fruit and vegetable market. In comparison to the same dates in 2019, the range of wholesale prices for lemons in Ukraine was significantly narrower amounting to 30-40 UAH/kg. Hence, there is no significant change in the price of lemons this year.

Bananas selling prices also expanded towards the end of 2020. As of the last week of December 2020, wholesale prices for bananas in Ukraine range from 20-29 UAH/kg. At this same time last year, bananas sold at 24-26 UAH/kg and there was already a choice of bananas. Now, bananas from different countries are available and the competition among banana importers has intensified. Therefore, bananas can now be bought even cheaper than in 2019. This means that given the 17% devaluation, banana importers sell them on average 20% cheaper since banana supplies are calculated in US dollars.

Potatoes are undoubtedly one of the main products for Ukrainians. However, this last season came as a shock for all participants in the potato market due to the huge import volumes, even from Russia, which we have written about previously. We also explained why the situation has not dramatically improved so far and that potato imports will continue.

Nevertheless, potato production in 2020 still increased both at household and professional farms. The result was a decrease in prices for potatoes but only by 15% in relation to the previous year. Wholesale prices for potatoes in Ukraine are now 2.5 times higher than in Poland and even higher than in neighbouring Moldova, a country that previously imported potatoes from Ukraine. Not surprisingly, Ukraine continues to actively import potatoes from the EU while local producers are holding back sales in hopes for a rise in prices in the second half of the season.

Onions and cabbage are two crops of the borscht set that disappointed farmers the most this season in terms of wholesale prices, but undoubtedly delight consumers. Despite the fact that in the previous season the lack of supply led to the establishment of very high prices for these products and in the onion segment high prices were held for 2 seasons in a row, producers continued to increase the area under both onions and cabbage. In addition, fairly good weather conditions have led to an increase in the yield of these crops and since the beginning of the current 2020/21 season it has become obvious that the supply of onions and cabbage significantly exceeds the demand.

White cabbage prices in Ukraine are currently 20% lower than a year ago and the situation with onions is even more serious since producers sell wholesale lots of these products almost twice as cheap as at the end of December 2019. Therefore, Ukraine remains the country with the lowest prices for onions in the world, but onion exports are not possible because Ukrainian producers do not have the quality and ability for export.

Beets and carrots are the only segments where the price tags of the past and current seasons practically coincide. The average price of root crops is near 3 UAH/kg. However, this is still a very low price, which is disappointing for farmers. Also, EastFruit analysts do not predict stability in these markets in the second half of this season because, in their opinion, problems with stocks in the storage of high-quality carrots and beets especially may begin in March 2021!

Сообщение Why have vegetables and fruits become cheaper in Ukraine? появились сначала на EastFruit.

According to EastFruit analysts, citrus fruits for the New Year’s table in Tajikistan will cost much more than a year ago. At the end of December 2020 in the wholesale horticulture market of Tajikistan, popular imported citrus fruits are on average 35% more expensive than at the same time in 2019.

The average wholesale prices for oranges also increased by 37% up to 22 somonis/kg ($1.94/kg). The most consumed citrus fruits were Pakistani mandarins, which were up by 35% to 6.5 somonis/kg ($0.59/kg). Bananas, which are now sold in bulk at 14.5 somonis/kg ($1.28/kg), also went up by 7%.

Since the cost of imported fruits is tied to the dollar exchange rate, it should also be taken into account that the rise in price is partly due to the devaluation of the Tajik somoni against the US dollar. Over the year, the Tajik national currency has lost about 17% of its value so the prices, for example, of bananas expressed in dollars were even lower than a year earlier by an average of 10%.

Read also: In 2020, over 2,200 hectares of new orchards planted in Tajikistan

It is noteworthy that in Tajikistan, mandarins are a seasonal fruit and the price of which decreases annually by January. However, even despite the recent decline in prices, they still cost significantly more than a year earlier. Yet, the price level for oranges remained the same throughout December 2020.

The main supplier of oranges to Tajikistan is Turkey and of mandarins is Pakistan. There are also mandarins from Turkey and China on sale, but they are more expensive.

Taking into account the rise in prices for imported citrus fruits against the background of lower incomes of the population, it is obvious that the volume of their imports to Tajikistan in winter will decrease. In addition, on the Tajik market in the pre-New Year period, there is a lot of high-quality and cheap locally produced apples and table grapes both of which fell sharply in 2020.

Сообщение Prices jumped this year for Pakistani mandarins and Turkish oranges in Tajikistan появились сначала на EastFruit.

At the end of December 2020 compared to the same period last year, the most popular citrus fruits on the wholesale horticulture market in Moldova rose by an average of 14%. In particular, the average wholesale prices for oranges increased by 29% up to 18 lei/kg ($1.04/kg) and mandarins by 8% at 14 lei/kg ($0.84/kg). Bananas also rose in price by 6% at 18 lei/kg ($1.04/kg).

Attention is drawn to the fact that during the last ten days of December 2019, wholesale prices for citrus fruits and bananas decreased by an average of 1 lei/kg (about $0.06/kg). This year, the slow downward movement of prices was indicated only for some types of bananas.

Read also: Extension of duty-free status on supplies of Moldovan fruits to Russia stabilizes apple exports

Wholesale suppliers of citrus and exotic fruits explain the price increases in 2020 leading up to New Year’s is due to logistical difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as changes in the geography of imports. There is an increase in the share of products supplied from the EU countries of Spain and Greece. In addition, prices have been affected by the depreciation of the Moldovan leu against the euro since the second half of November.

Local fruit producers also noticed an atypical pre-holiday price increase for exotic fruits. In relation to this, some specialists from agricultural producer organizations suggested that this would serve as a short-term stimulus for increasing sales of Moldovan grapes and apples on the domestic market.

Unlike the citrus fruits, fresh vegetables purchased during this period for the holiday table fell in price by an average of 11%. Wholesale prices for cucumbers decreased the most by about 16% on average to the level of 21 lei/kg ($1.21/kg). Tomatoes fell by 5% to 18 lei/kg ($1.04/kg).

It is noteworthy that in 2019 before the winter holidays, cucumbers and tomatoes also fell significantly in price by 1-5 lei/kg ($0.06-0.3/kg). Nevertheless, the wholesale prices for these vegetables in the pre-New Year period last year were higher than this year.

Market operators believe that wholesale prices for tomatoes and cucumbers have decreased due to an increase in their imports from Turkey, which is the main supplier of vegetables to the Moldovan market during the winter season.

Сообщение Pre-holiday prices in Moldova for citrus fruits rose 14%, salad vegetables fell 11% появились сначала на EastFruit.