At Moldexpo, Chișinău, during MOLDAGROTECH & FARMER 2026 (15–18 October), dealers of Chinese-made farm kit have a stall. TV8: after Chinese cars on the road, now tractors. They pull with kit and price. Some farmers bite. Others say they have not yet passed the test of time. The fair, Agrobiznes and Moldpres confirm, puts out more than a thousand machines and more than 400 participants. It is not a Chinese-only fair. It is a Chinese stall in a large fair.

One model shown to farmers: $73,000, two or three times cheaper than a similar European, the report says, usable across a wide range of jobs. Alexandru Revenco, a dealer of Chinese tractors: this year’s novelty is a 220 hp machine, 9 tonnes, generation 5, an “ergonomic” luxury cab. For ploughing and discing. That is the dealer talking, not an independent test.

Younger farmers, unnamed by TV8: “Price motivates us a lot, at the competition it is practically double.” “Given the situation in Moldovan farming, the first criterion is price, the rest comes after.” Conservatives: a serious holder would have Europeans, “sturdier”, more confident in the field. Chinese machines, “decent” on price-quality, for simpler work. “European tractors have history; the Chinese ones are not yet clear.”

Sergiu Teșcurianu, an importer, has worked 13 years with European brands, leads on Väderstad and Maschio Gaspardo. He does not see big competition now. He knows Chinese makers are “breathing down our necks”. “We will see how the Chinese tractors present themselves in future.” For some, a decade of Europeans beats the price.

Moldpres: more than a thousand units, from tractors to drones and smart tech. Agrobiznes: more than 150 companies at Moldagrotech, plus Farmer and the Golden Autumn fair with about 250 participants. Precision farming is a chapter, not the whole Chinese stand.

Nobody in the report has proved in the field that 220 hp Chinese holds like a European three times the price. Nor the reverse. The fair closes on 18 October. Whoever buys takes on the winter and the ploughing trial.

Image: Alex Buretz, agricultural relief at Moldexpo, Chișinău, 21 September 2022, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. A relief on the fairground, not a tractor on a stand.

Sources consulted: Tehnica agricolă chineză își face loc și în Moldova — TV8; Expozițiile Moldagrotech și Farmer 2026 vor prezenta soluții pentru eficientizarea activității agricole — MOLDPRES.