Moldova is one of the largest fruit exporters to Romania’s fruit market. In 2018, Moldova exported 118,000 tons of grapes, 94,000 tons of plums and 186,000 tons of apples to Romania.  

According to the web portal AgroExpert, the 118,000 tons of grapes Moldova exported to Romania amount to 9.2 million euros in sales. AgroExpert also cites a study from the USAID Agriculture in Moldova Project that ranks Moldova first among the states from which Romania imports grapes, and in the top five countries from which Romania imports plums. 

Moldova exports 94,000 tons of plums to Romania every year, which is more than 70 percent of the country’s total import volume of fresh plums. Buyers claim that they choose Moldovan plums because of the high quality of the product. 

In 2016, more than ten Moldovan fruit exporters participated at the Indagra Food exposition in Romania, Bucharest. Then on October 16, 2017, the first truck of fresh fruits from Ionextrans LLC – a supplier from Moldova’s Ialoveni district – was sent to the Auchan Retail Romania trade network. 

From 2006 to 2014 the share of goods exported from Moldova to European Union countries hovered around 50 percent. After the 2014 creation of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) with the E.U. the export share to the E.U. has been steadily increasing from 53.3 percent in 2014, to 61.9 percent in 2015, 66 percent in 2016 and 68.8 percent in 2018. 

Throughout this period, the agri-food sector was the main beneficiary of the DCFTA. The export of agri-food products increased by 44 percent during the period 2015 – 2017.