OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2014. The embargo on Moldovan fruit, vegetables and canned products exports imposed by Russia „is certainly of political nature and will certainly last for a short period”. Executive Director of the Expert-Grup Association Adrian Lupusor made statements to this effect at a today presentation of the Euromonitor - issue T2, 2014 magazine.

„As it was set, exactly that way the embargo will be eliminated sooner or later. Most probably, this will happen in a year or even less,” Lupusor said. He added that “the imports from the European Union in the situation of the Association Agreement will take place within quantitative quotas, which contradicts Russia’s fears regarding the massive re-export of products to the Russian market”.

Lupusor believes that we should not dramatise the situation, taking into consideration that „Moldova’s exposure to the export to Russia is over appreciated”.

The data of the National Bureau of Statistics show that Russia’s quota in the Moldovan exports was of almost 20 per cent in the first five months of 2014, against 28.4 per cent in the same period of 2013.

„Rosselhoznadzor believes that the Moldovan products are of bad quality, contain germs. And, then one wonders: if Moldova did not sign the Association Agreement, would the germs have disappeared or not?”, ADEPT Executive Director Igor Botan asked rhetorically. He said that the issue of germs had nothing to do with the political document that Moldova signed.

Botan added that the interdictions imposed by Moscow were „a method of pressure” and that „we should get over this period till elections, after which things will get relaxed”. At the same time, the bans also have risks for Russia, which is an important partner of Moldova, Botan said.
The Russian Phytosanitary Inspection forbade the import of Moldovan apples, canned goods and vegetables to Russia’s market on 21 July 2014.

A Moldovan governmental delegation left for Moscow on 29 July, in order to launch negotiations on resuming export of Moldovan fruit, vegetables and canned products to Russia.

Early this week, the European Union informed about the doubling of non-custom duty export quotas of Moldovan products, negotiated in the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, starting from 1 August 2014. The respective quotas will be increased for apples from 40,000 to 80,000 tons, for plums – from 10,000 to 20,000 tons, and also for grapes - from 10,000 to 20,000 tons.