EastFruit reported earlier that the operators of the Moldovan nut market forecast an increase in demand prices for high-quality in-shell walnuts from farm orchards (not forest belts and alleys) in early December. The reasons for optimism were requests from traders from Austria and France for the purchase of large lots of high-quality walnut kernels from Moldovan farms. However, according to local exporters, potential European buyers “praise the quality of small trial batches of Moldovan walnuts from the 2022 harvest but have not yet concluded contracts for large supplies.”
The same is noted in the case of possible exports to alternative markets. Turkish buyers have been interested in walnut kernels from Moldova recently. The demand price for in-shell walnuts is low – no more than $2/kg. Some exporters have started purchasing in-shell nuts from farmers for future Turkish exports at the current average wholesale price in Moldova or slightly lower – 26-28 MDL/kg ($1.41-1.43/kg). But the procurement volumes are small, as traders believe that the risk that ” something will go wrong at some point is too great.”
There is a growing pessimistic assumption among walnut growers that they will miss the peak of pre-Christmas walnut sales to the EU this year. They also fear that the revival of demand for Moldavian walnuts in its traditional European markets (Germany, France) will start no earlier than the second decade of January.
Source: EastFruit