Tenth edition of Fruits Business Conference held in Moldova

Chisinau, 5 December /MOLDPRES/ - Producers and exporters of fruits, national and international specialists in the horticultural sector have brought together at the tenth edition of the Fruits Business Conference in Moldova – regarded as the most important horticultural event of the year. The conference is organized by the Moldova Fruct Association, with the support of the Rural Competitiveness and Resilience Activity in Moldova Project of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Ukraine-Moldova American Enterprise Fund (UMAEF) and the Investments Agency of Moldova.    

During ten years, the event has become a platform where professionals tackle tendencies in the horticultural sector, innovations in terms of techniques, solutions of enhancing the productivity and competitiveness, maintaining the improvement of the quality of fruits, as well as the identification of new sales markets, exploring of new business opportunities and partnerships.    

Prime Minister Dorin Recean congratulated the business community on the remarkable progress of Moldovan fruits, recognized internationally for their quality now. In the context of the climate changes, the PM stressed the importance of the sustainable investments, especially in the infrastructure of irrigation, in order to develop the horticultural sector for long term.  

„We should adapt the challenges triggered by the geopolitical factors and the climate bad weather, in order to ensure the profitability of the business with fruits. The poor access to water, labour force and financing represent major challenges for the horticultural sector. It is essential that we cooperate, in order to consolidate our positions on new markets and to find real solutions to these challenges, these subjects are included on the agenda of the anniversary edition of the Fruits Business Conference,’’ said the president of the Moldova Fruct Association, Vitalie Gorincioi.   

Attending the event, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Ludmila Catlabuga said that the competent ministry supported the farmers willing to invest in the horticultural sector, through subsidies. ‘’Our strategic objectives for the 2021-2025 period include the extension of the perennial areas, increase in the overall production of fruits, as well as the development of the post-harvesting and processing infrastructure, enhancement of the capacity of depositing in refrigerators and the creation of new packing houses. In 2024, the ministry elaborated the concept of the draft Law on Horticulture and of the Horticultural Office and at present, they work on the programme dedicated to the consumption of fresh fruits in schools and kindergartens,’’ Catlabuga said.     

The 2024 year was a year full of challenges for the fruits sector. The bad weather conditions: frost in spring, extreme drought in summer and heavy rainfall on the period of harvesting sweet cherries, grapes and maturing of apples created difficulties for producers.  Nevertheless, the Moldovan fruits maintained their position on the export markets, due to the huge investments made by producers and exporters in pre-cooling, sorting and packing equipment. On the other hand, the 2024 year was a successful one for Moldovan apricots. The volume of apricots exported reached a figure of 13.2 thousand tons – a historical record for the country. EU was the main destination for 56 per cent of the apricots exported in 2024.     

Despite the poorer harvest got in 2024, caused by the bad weather conditions, Moldovan plums consolidate their position on the EU market, where 79.2 per cent was exported, against 76 per cent in 2023.   

The volume of the exports of apples in the 2024 year will increase by about 10 ten percent against the year before. The efforts of promotion yield results. Thus, in the first 11 months of the 2024 year, the exports to EU reached the figure of 23,000 tons against 11.8 thousand tons on the same period of the 2023 year. Moldovan apples consolidate their positions in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, while the Saudi Arabia is on the fourth position in the ranking of the destinations of export of Moldovan apples (3,800 tons exported in 2024).    

According to the participants, this was a complicated year because of the high air temperatures; yet, due to the irrigation, the effects were not felt. ‘’We managed to keep the position on the markets of the European Union and the Arabian ones. For the latter destination, the Gala apple varieties are highly appreciated. In this respect, we make efforts to meet the demands of the market and we deliver what the consumers demand. Namely for this reason, such events as the Fruits Business Conference are opportune. Here, we manage to exchange experience, to gather materials from well-known specialists about the tendencies on market and to enforce the new solutions in the field,’’ the director general at the Darurile Basarabiei (Bessarabia’s Gifts) Lt company, Valeriu Matcovschi, said.        

As for the grapes, a positive dynamic of exports to EU is recorded; thus, in the first 11 months of the 2024 year, 31.2 thousand tons of grapes were exported to EU or 58.7 per cent of all Moldovan grapes exported, against 26.4 thousand tons or 36.4 per cent on the same period of the 2023 year.   

Moldovan plums, apricots and grapes this year were sold in the biggest networks of supermarkets from the European Union, observing strict quality and packing rigours.