Prices for watermelons in Moldova are low in July due to Romanian imports

In the Moldovan market, the dynamics of wholesale prices for watermelons this season differs significantly from those predicted by many operators of the country's fruit and vegetable market. Many of them agreed that prices would be high until at least early August. However, by mid-July, they dropped to 3.5-4 lei per kg ($0.25-0.26/kg). In the last five years, the level of prices for watermelon in lei was lower only in 2018 (3 lei/kg, $0.24/kg). The forecast for high watermelon prices in the first half of the 2022 marketing season was based on two factors. The first is a sharp reduction in the area of watermelon plantations in Ukraine, and before the war, the neighboring country accounted for approximately 30% of Moldova's watermelon imports. The second is a smaller, but also very significant reduction in watermelon crops in Moldova itself (according to expert estimates, to about 1-1.2 thousand hectares). Read also: In 2022, the export of raspberries from Moldova turned out to be ...