Discovering Moldova: Making waves in the European fruit market

Moldova stands out as a major contributor to the world’s high-quality wine market, exporting an annual volume ranging from 1 to 1.5 million hectolitres. Official data reveals a commercial wine growing area exceeding 100,000 hectares, along with approximately 40,000 hectares dedicated to private vineyards. In the year 2023, Moldovan wines were exported to over 75 countries.

Moldova is also becoming a significant exporter of fruit, with a strong focus on the EU. The country’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry reported on the expansion of Moldovan fruit on the EU market. The strengthening of Moldova’s positions on the EU market is due to the EU’s decision to suspend import taxes and quotas for several categories of products from Moldova, so in 2023, the country supplied tomatoes, garlic, apples, cherries, plums, grapes to the EU market without limitations.

Along with the growing market and demand for premium export fruits, quality requirements are also increasing, not least because of the particular attention paid by picky European importers to pesticide residues. Thus, zero residue production is becoming a major slogan and challenge for Moldovan farmers. At Andrematt, we see this as a great opportunity for the Moldovan market. After all, the concept of zero residues, which aims to produce safe food, has a huge impact on rational farming and environmental balance in general. The benefits of reducing the use of highly toxic substances in favour of equally effective, yet highly selective and environmentally friendly solutions cannot be overstated.

Following demand, Andermatt took the opportunity to participate in a seminar organised by Agro-Partner in Chisinau, on the eve of the Moldova Fruit Conference in December 2023. The seminar included presentation and interactive discussions on disease and pest control using biological crop protection products in both conventional and organic crops, with the aim of achieving residue-free harvest. The Andermatt solutions Vitisan, Cygra and RhizoVital C5 are already available in Moldova. These effective tools ensure a residue-free harvest, while maintaining a safe and healthy environment.

After the seminar, we visited Cricova winery which was founded in 1952 in the galleries of the former limestone mine and is truly the country’s national treasure. Underground city, kingdom of wines, pearl of winemaking – these are just a few of the names that could describe the Cricova winery. The underground city is filled with a unique atmosphere imbued with the historical winemaking tradition and Moldavian culture.

Short facts about Cricova winery:

• 120 km underground roadways
• 60-100m deep Constant climate with temperature between 12°C and 14°C
• 400,000 hectolitres of stored wine
• Underground cinema, tasting rooms and church at a depth of 60 to 80 metres
• Wine collection with over 1,000,000 bottles
• One of the largest French-style sparkling wine producers with over 2,000,000 bottles per year

Our great appreciation goes to Adrian Vozian for the organisation of the event. Our close co-operation with Agro-Partener over the past year has brought Andermatt solutions closer to the Moldovan farmers. From now on, Andermatt Romania will take over the supervision of the market to make further Andermatt solutions available to farmers in Moldova – for Healthy Food and Healthy Environment for All!