OREANDA-NEWS. January 31, 2011. Nine firms have lost their right to export apples to Russia, after the Moldovan authorities had refused to issue certificates to them, on grounds that they do not meet the norms of goods' safety. The firms have repeatedly exceeded the admissible limit of cypermethrin, dimethoat and phosalon in the exported apples.

"Although the Russian Federal Service of Veterinary and Phyto-sanitary Supervision (Rosselhoznadzor) have thrice warned these firms, the latter neglected these warnings and did not remove the discovered irregularities," a press officer at the Moldovan Agriculture and Food Ministry, Constantin Rotaru, has said.

Under a memorandum on the safety of goods exported to Russia, if a firm makes three infringements of this document, it is temporarily deprived of the right to export fruits to the Russian market.

As many as 170 firms export fruits from Moldova to Russia. In 2010, the export of fruits to Russia exceeded the volume of deliveries from 2009 by 167,000 tons, amounting to 245,000 tons in all.