Moldovan wine export down 30% in first four months of 2009

The export of Moldovan wine went down by 30 percent during the first four months of 2009, amounting to 45 million dollars, according to reports by the official Moldpres news agency reaching here on Tuesday.

The decrease in the wine export was triggered by the economic crisis, which lowered global demand, according to wine companies in the country.

"The reduction of the export of alcoholic beverages was higher in early 2009. At present, a tendency of monthly increase in deliveries to the foreign markets is recorded already," said Nicolae Taran, deputy director-general of the Moldova-Vin Agricultural and Industrial Agency.

The main sales market of the Moldovan wine products remains the one of the Commonwealth of Independent States member countries, which is followed by the market of the European Union states.

At the same time, Taran stressed that Moldova-Vin elaborated a plan to support wine companies amid the economic crisis. Among the plan's provisions, there is also the implementation of technical norms of organizing the wine goods' traceability, so as to raise the competitiveness of the Moldovan wine products to the European standards.

In 2008, the export of Moldovan wines was worth 196 million dollars, up 45 percent against 2007.

Source: Xinhua