Exports of Moldovan agro-food products exceeded 1 billion dollars in 2014

Chisinau, 29 January /MOLDPRES/ -The exports of agro-food products for the first time ever exceeded 1 billion dollars and reached 1.12 billion in 2014, Acting Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Vasile Bumacov has written on his Facebook account.

Agriculture Ministry’s data show that the exports increased by 5.4 per cent in 2014 against 2013, whereas the imports dropped 9.7 per cent. „The commercial balance of foreign trade with agro-food products is positive and is stands at 394.37 million dollars, which represents an increase by 52.5 per cent,” Bumacov says.

Specialists say that this evolution is much more impressive as the Russian market, the biggest sales market for Moldovan products, was closed for alcoholic beverages, apples, canned goods, meat and other products. Yet, the restrictions imposed by Russia prompted the Moldovan producers to orient towards the European Union’s market, after the entrance into force beforehand of the Free Trade Agreement and providing of bigger quotas for agricultural products supplies.

Over the past six years, the exports of agro-food products has doubled, whereas the imports increased much slower, by about 40 per cent.

Earlier this week, the National Statistics Bureau informed that the output of agricultural products increased by 8.2 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013, following a 10.4-per cent increase in vegetable products and the animal one by 4.0 per cent.