Moldovan farmers in the north start harvesting sunflowers. Because the drought did not get around this year, farmers expect good results. Those in Făleşti district say they will collect around 2.3 tons per hectare, compared to 1.8 tons gathered last year. Merchants expect an oil price drop when the new crop is sold out.

Farmers say the sunflower harvest is richer, because the flower pollination took place on time. Moreover, they hope for better income from seed marketing. The production cost per kilogram is five lei.

"The situation at the moment is in generally normal. In this field we harvested 2.3 tons per hectare. We started in other fields, hopefully hope it may be better", said Mihail Goncearenco, farmer.

The largest oil producer will set a sunflower seed purchase price after September 1:

"It's about two to three lei per liter, I think it's going to get cheaper."

This year, 317 thousand hectares of sunflower were grown. The Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment forecasts a harvest of two tonnes per hectare, 500 kilograms more than last year, which means a total of 634,000 tons.