Potatoes are getting cheaper in Moldova, due to import from the Ukraine

Since last week, the level of wholesale prices for potatoes began to decline on the Moldovan market; the product fell in price by an average of 14% to 6 LEI0/kg (USD 0.33/kg).

As a result, the average price for new-crop local potatoes for the first time this season has dropped, although not much, below the average price level for this product in the summer/autumn of last year, EastFruit reports.

Operators of the country’s fruit and vegetable market do not exclude the possibility that the process of reducing potato prices will continue for some time.

As EastFruit reported, at the beginning of September, the price of potatoes in Moldova remained relatively high due to the low potato harvest, the seasonal increase in demand for it, and the lack of traditional imports of this product from Ukraine.

However, according to traders, supplies of Ukrainian potatoes went to the Moldovan market, and they suppressed the price level for this product.

Potato harvesting in Moldova has not been completed. However, a significant share of late potatoes is sent to vegetable storage facilities, and supplies of products directly to the market are gradually being reduced.

Which leaves even more space in the market for imported potatoes – both premium and low quality. In this regard, it is appropriate to note that the price of low-quality potatoes in Ukraine is twice lower (USD 0.16/kg) than in Moldova.

Market operators note that “there might have been more supplies of Ukrainian potatoes to the Moldovan market if traders had not experienced problems with backloading. Last fall, onions were actively exported from Moldova to Ukraine.

In September of this year, almost all vegetables on the Moldavian market were more expensive than in Ukraine. Theoretically, Moldovan plums and grapes can be considered options for returning loading supplies to the Ukrainian market.