The apple harvest this year is larger and of a higher quality than last year. The producers have bigger chances of exporting apples to the markets of the EU and Russia, where the harvest is lower and the apples were damaged by frost.

Contacted by IPN, executive director of the Association of Fruit Producers and Exporters “Moldova Fruct” Iurie Fala said about 430,000 tonnes of apples will be harvested this year. “The quality is higher and the quantity is by about 3% larger than last year at a time when the harvest in the European Union is by 23% lower, while the large producing countries have a minus of 30% like Poland or of 46% like Germany,” he stated.

Iurie Fala noted there are possibilities of exporting to Russia too as this country was affected by frost. “We expect it will be a season of trade. The situation until now is not bad,” he said.

The Moldovan apples are exported mainly to Russia, unlike plums and table grapes that go primarily to the EU.