EVOLUTION OF THE DAIRY SECTOR OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA: LATEST TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS

The paper aims to analyze the evolution of the dairy sector of the Republic of Moldova, by presenting the latest trends in the sector and a wide analysis of the sector since 1990. Research has been carried out based on statistical data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova and data accessed from UN Comtrade database. The main analyzed indicators refer to number of dairy cows, milk production, imports and exports of dairy products. Therefore, the number of milking cows has diminished by about 3.6 times between 1990 and 2017, milk production declined by 3.4 times from 1,503 to 443 thousand tons in the same period, while the productivity, after a period of decline in 1990-1995, has stabilized between 1996 and 2004 and has started to rise since 2005. At the same time, the balance of foreign trade in dairy products is deeply negative for all categories of dairy products. Conclusions of the paper present a difficult situation in the dairy sector, with potential prospects of recovery as a result of paying a special attention to this sector by the governmental institutions.