The Moldovan apples, plums and grapes have been shipped from thousand kilometers away to reach one of the biggest international exhibitions organized at the end of October in Madrid, Spain. This opportunity opened the path to new sale markets for fruit producers from both banks of the Nistru River, participating with a common stand at the event.  

The fresh fruits presented during the exhibition by the members of the fruit producers’ associations from both sides of the Nistru River – “Moldova Fruct” and “Dnestrovskii Fruct” – were really liked by traders from several countries, including from Africa, India, and Saudi Arabia. “Our common stand has been visited by over 130 importers, who were really delighted with the taste and quality of our products. We have established relations with many of them, and even agreed upon some business. Hence, the traders from the Northern Africa suggested us to deliver a small lot of apples, as a test. The new markets are not conquered over one year, it is important that we have real perspectives for the apples to be successfully sold on the African continent,” noted Iurie Fală, President of “Moldova Fruct” Association.

The participation at the exhibition was possible thanks to the support provided by Sweden and UNDP under the “Advanced Cross-River Capacities for Trade” (AdTrade) Project. “By supporting this initiative, we contribute to creating new long-term commercial relations between the entrepreneurs from both sides of the Nistru River, to increase their competitiveness, fostering export of goods from the region. And it is not only fruits. We are very glad that based on our joint efforts the Moldova goods conquer new markets, and the exports’ geography will get extended,” says Maxim Cataranciuc, project manager at UNDP Moldova.

Iurie Diuță, President of “Dnestrovskii Fruct” Association acknowledges that the participation at the exhibition has opened new opportunities for them. “While discussing with importers from the Middle East, we focused on increasing the export volumes; and discussions with importers from Israel focused on the possibility to initiate apples’ export to this country. Our fruits are appreciated not only for their special taste and appearance, but also for the fact that they perfectly meet the quality standards. The participation in the Madrid exhibition provided us the opportunity to prove this and to identify new consumers at thousands of kilometers distance.”

During the visit to one of the biggest agro-food markets in the world – Mercamadrid, the fruits’ producers and exporters from both banks of the Nistru River got familiarized with the preferences of fruits consumers from Madrid, as well as with quality requirements and marketing standards. Liubomir Vaipan, grapes’ producer from Cainari, says that the importers they have met were very interested in all the fresh fruits from Moldova. “Our company is specialized in producing and trading Moldova table variety of grapes – a variety which is not so well-known in the Western Europe. Currently, we succeed to trade about 200 tons of grapes annually on the Spanish market, a rather modest quantity when related to the volumes produced by Moldova. When trading, we do not focus on one single market, we just sell where a better price is offered. Now we should focus on packing, transportation, storage to be able to cope with competitors and find commercial partners.”