| Walnuts marketing in Moldova |
Content
Marketing channels
Exports
Demand
In Moldova walnut production is mainly carried out
on a very small scale, making thus necessary the involvement
of produce collectors once the produce is harvested. Produce
collectors, after gathering the dried nuts, usually also carry
out the cracking; sorting; grading and packing subsequent
phases. Very often they also export the whole nuts or the
kernels. More and more exporting operations are done through
companies set up as joint ventures between the above collectors
and foreigners who take care of produce distribution in final
countries. Sometimes the marketing channel is further complicated
by the operations of other middleman who take care of one
or more phases of the distribution chain. |
The following table shows exports of
walnuts by country, for the 1994-1996 period.
Table 25: Walnut exports by country from 1994 to 1996 (TM and
thousand US$).
| Ţara |
1989-91 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
1997 |
1998 |
| World
production |
919 |
1036 |
1043 |
1073 |
1097 |
1066 |
| China |
154 |
210 |
231 |
238 |
240 |
250 |
| USA |
216 |
210 |
212 |
189 |
244 |
200 |
| Turkey |
117 |
120 |
110 |
115 |
115 |
115 |
| Ukraine |
77 |
57 |
76 |
77 |
77 |
77 |
| Russian
Federation |
- |
7 |
8 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
| France |
23 |
27 |
22 |
22 |
23 |
28 |
| India |
18 |
28 |
25 |
29 |
26 |
30 |
| Grecia |
23 |
22 |
21 |
21 |
20 |
20 |
| Romania |
23 |
20 |
22 |
36 |
33 |
33 |
| Yugoslavia
(Fed.) |
32 |
- |
- |
- |
|
|
| Yugoslavia |
- |
20 |
18 |
25 |
25 |
33 |
| Republic
of Moldova |
- |
15 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
| Italy |
16 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
15 |
15 |
| Byelorusia |
- |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
| Chili |
8 |
9 |
10 |
13 |
13 |
13 |
| Bulgaria |
27 |
17 |
7 |
14 |
14 |
9 |
| Other
countries |
185 |
255 |
254 |
259 |
231 |
222 |
Source: Data for 1994-1995 was taken from Comtrade
statistics; for 1996 from the Department of Statistics of
RM.
Note: *:The
domestic consumption was calculated using a 3.3 coefficient
for converting imported: *: The domestic consumption was
calculated using a 3.3 coefficient for converting imported
and exported quantities of unshelled nuts into shelled nuts
during 1996.
As it can be seen from the above table, the biggest volumes
of walnuts are exported to Greece (36% of the 1996 total);
France (16%); Turkey (9%); Germany (8%) and Italy (6%). Export
volumes, in money terms, are steadily growing both as a total
(+581% when 1996 figure is compared with 1994 one) and for
main EU importing countries. In 1996, total walnut export
was about 9582 tons ( as in shell product), valued about 8,2
millions USD.
As can be seen from Table 26, domestic
consumption (estimated as Apparent Consumption) decreased
sharply from 1993 to 1995 due to the drastic increase in the
export levels.
Table 26: Estimate
of Moldovan Apparent Consumption for walnuts during 1993-1995
(MT).
| Year |
Production |
Imports |
Exports |
Domestic consumption |
| 1993 |
13000 |
0 |
2726 |
10274 |
| 1994 |
13000 |
0 |
4311 |
8689 |
| 1995 |
13000F |
0 |
9582 |
3418 |
Note:
F=forecast.
The biggest share of walnut kernels are used by the chocolate
and confectionery industries, along with the bakery and biscuit
sectors. Home consumption takes up the remaining share. Walnut
retailing takes place mainly within market boundaries and,
to a much more limited extend, through specialized shops.
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