11 Moldovan fresh fruit producers are participating these days at the WorldFood Moscow exhibition during 12–15 September 2016, making their presence felt with a wide range of fresh fruit produce. WorldFood Moscow is Russia’s leading and longest running event for the international food industry, with more than 1,500 participating companies from 62 countries, attended by 30,000 trade visitors from 96 countries. Since 2011, UNDP Moldova and the Moldova Fruct Association are strongly supporting Moldovan producers and exporters to attended this important event.

“Consumers from the Russian Federation and CIS highly value the quality of the Moldovan fresh produce. Our plan is to establish new good contacts with potential buyers, better analyze the demand, understand what the most recent tendencies on the market are, and identify our competitive advantages”, said Iurie Fala, Executive Director of the Moldova Fruct Association.

The Moldovan expo-stand, besides tasting opportunities, provides space for tailored meeting places for producers to negotiate new contracts and interact.

“We see at least two important advantages of being regular participants at such events. One is that producers make new contacts, plan for new contracts and eventually make new sales. On the other hand, this is the only way to keep pace with the changing markets by being informed and actively learn from counterparts and competitors on new technologies, varieties, prices, quality requirements, among others”, noted Dumitru Vasilescu, Project Manager at UNDP Moldova.

According to Moldova Fruct Association, an increase of about 10 -15% of harvesting of apples is expected this year, compared to 2015. More than 60–70 % of local apples will be exported to both traditional and new markets.