EBRD supports Moldova’s agribusiness industry in loan to sunflower seed firm

The EBRD is providing €1.5 million of unfunded risk participation in the revolving working capital finance, which will allow Cereale de Aur raise its processing capacity for sunflower seeds from 20 per cent now to 85 per cent, and to expand its exports, mainly to EU countries where the demand for sunflower seeds is high. The loan, signed at the Bank’s Annual Meeting in Samarkand, will be disbursed in two equal tranches. 

The project is part of the EBRD’s efforts to support Ukraine and the countries around it – including Moldova – in the wake of Russia’s invasion last year. 

Before the war, Ukraine – a major agricultural producer and exporter – processed all locally produced sunflower seeds and even imported to meet its needs. But Russia’s war on Ukraine has brought both processing and export difficulties for the country’s agro-industrial complex. Cereale de Aur’s buying of sunflower seeds from Ukraine will help farmers there with much-needed liquidity and new export routes. 

Cereale de Aur is one of the leading sunflower seed processors in Moldova, with 30 per cent of market share excluding the crushing industry. It is owned by WeTrade Group, a local leader in the distribution of agricultural machines and a long-standing EBRD Advice for Small Businesses (ASB) client and beneficiary of EU4Business-EBRD Credit Lines from local banks.  

This financing further expands WeTrade Group’s collaboration with the EBRD, while promoting increased exports and diversification into more value-added products that provide higher margins in line with the EBRD’s strategy for Moldova. The EBRD is Moldova’s largest institutional investor. 

Moldova’s agribusiness sector is of critical importance to the tiny country of 2.7 million people’s economy. It employs around one-fifth of the active workforce and makes up 10-12 per cent of Moldova’s Gross Domestic Product. 

Maib is a longstanding EBRD client, with a more than 30 per cent market share in Moldova. It offers a wide range of services to its 900,000 corporate, MSME and retail clients through a wide distribution network of 58 branches and 86 agencies and digital channels, employing 2,300 staff. Since 2018, maib’s largest minority shareholder has been a consortium of investors composed of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Invalda INVL, an asset management group in the Baltics, and Horizon Capital, an Emerging Europe-focused private equity fund manager.