In short
Trade accounts for 44% of the revenue of Moldovan companies, three times more than manufacturing, which comes second. Agriculture, with 13% of active companies, brings in only 7% of revenue but has the best profit margin among the large sectors.
We gathered the 2022 financial statements of 20,668 companies, meaning every company that filed and reported revenue, and grouped them by CAEM section. On the analytics page you can see the same figures for other years too.
Revenue by sector, 2022
Total: almost 550 billion lei of reported revenue, 20,668 companies.
| CAEM section | Companies | Revenue (bn MDL) | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| G. Wholesale and retail trade | 7,758 | 242.5 | 44.1% |
| C. Manufacturing | 2,690 | 80.6 | 14.7% |
| H. Transport and storage | 1,482 | 41.9 | 7.6% |
| A. Agriculture, forestry, fishing | 2,174 | 40.5 | 7.4% |
| D. Electricity, gas, steam | 94 | 35.5 | 6.5% |
| F. Construction | 1,040 | 17.0 | 3.1% |
| M. Professional, scientific activities | 1,378 | 17.0 | 3.1% |
| J. Information and communication | 783 | 16.4 | 3.0% |
| Q. Health and social care | 503 | 12.8 | 2.3% |
| R. Arts, entertainment | 187 | 10.9 | 2.0% |
| I. Hotels and restaurants | 685 | 7.6 | 1.4% |
| L. Real estate | 614 | 6.8 | 1.2% |
| N. Administrative services | 298 | 3.1 | 0.6% |
| K. Financial activities | 229 | 2.9 | 0.5% |
| E. Water, sanitation | 216 | 2.4 | 0.4% |
| S. Other services | 325 | 2.1 | 0.4% |
| Rest (P, B, T, O) | 192 | 2.2 | 0.4% |
A few observations:
- Trade is the main engine and the most numerous sector: 7,758 companies with filings, 242 billion lei. Moldova imports almost everything it consumes, and imports and distribution go through trading companies. In the top 100 by revenue, a third of the list are fuel distributors, store chains and importers.
- Energy has only 94 companies with filings, but 35.5 billion lei in revenue. Moldovagaz, Premier Energy, Termoelectrica, Energocom and a few electricity suppliers have turnovers in the billions, because they sell an expensive product to the whole country.
- Section K (banks, insurance, microfinance) looks small in the table because banks report to the National Bank in a different format and are not in this set. The real size of the financial sector is much larger.
Who makes profit, not just revenue
High revenue does not mean high profit. We calculated the net profit margin per sector: total net profit divided by total revenue.
| CAEM section | Net profit (bn MDL) | Net margin |
|---|---|---|
| K. Financial activities | 0.47 | 16.6% |
| L. Real estate | 1.04 | 15.3% |
| A. Agriculture | 4.11 | 10.2% |
| I. Hotels and restaurants | 0.72 | 9.5% |
| F. Construction | 1.22 | 7.2% |
| C. Manufacturing | 5.16 | 6.4% |
| G. Trade | 14.48 | 6.0% |
| M. Professional activities | 1.03 | 6.0% |
| H. Transport | 2.23 | 5.3% |
| J. Information and communication | 0.86 | 5.2% |
| R. Arts, entertainment | 0.26 | 2.4% |
| Q. Health | 0.16 | 1.3% |
| E. Water, sanitation | -0.12 | loss |
| D. Energy | -0.46 | loss |
In absolute terms, trade collects the most profit: 14.5 billion lei. But for every 100 lei sold, a trader keeps 6 lei and a farmer 10. Energy and water worked at a loss in 2022: regulated prices, tariffs raised late, the gas crisis.
2022 was a special year, with inflation above 30% and energy prices that exploded, which inflated trade revenue and sank energy profits. For comparison, in the partial 2024 data we already have (almost 1,900 companies, mostly the large ones), trade reaches 48% of revenue and energy is back in the black.
How many companies are in each sector
Financial statements cover the companies that file them. The state register shows what all 155,570 active companies do, by their declared main activity.
| CAEM section | Active companies | Share |
|---|---|---|
| G. Trade | ~57,300 | 37% |
| A. Agriculture | ~20,500 | 13% |
| C. Manufacturing | ~14,400 | 9% |
| M. Professional activities | ~12,100 | 8% |
| H. Transport | ~8,100 | 5% |
| J. Information and communication | ~7,100 | 5% |
| F. Construction | ~7,000 | 4% |
| L. Real estate | ~6,300 | 4% |
| I. Hotels and restaurants | ~6,100 | 4% |
| S. Other services | ~3,400 | 2% |
| N. Administrative services | ~3,100 | 2% |
| Q. Health | ~2,400 | 2% |
| Rest | ~7,700 | 5% |
The figures are approximate, because the register mixes two editions of the CAEM classifier and some old codes read differently. How the classifier works is explained in the CAEM guide.
Two ways to read the tables
Placed side by side, the share of companies and the share of revenue say different things about each sector:
- Agriculture: 13% of companies, 7% of revenue. There are many small peasant farms, while turnover is concentrated in a few dozen large companies exporting grain and sunflower.
- Energy: under 1% of companies, 6.5% of revenue. The most concentrated sector in the economy.
- IT and communication: 5% of companies, 3% of revenue. The sector is growing fast in number of companies (the most popular code among new companies in 2026 is custom software), but the companies are small, with a few employees and revenue under a million lei.
- Trade: 37% of companies, 44% of revenue. The sector is both numerous and large.
How to use this data
When you analyse a company, compare it with its sector, not with the economy's average. A 4% margin is weak for a farmer and normal for a distributor. On each company's page on Datero.md you find its financial indicators, and for context you can read the financial analysis guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the largest sector of Moldova's economy by revenue?
Wholesale and retail trade, with 44% of the revenue reported by companies in 2022, that is 242 billion lei.
Which sector has the highest profit margin?
Among the large sectors, agriculture, with a net margin of around 10%. Real estate and financial services have higher margins but much smaller volumes.
How many active companies are in trade?
Approximately 57,000 active companies have trade as their main activity, that is 37% of all companies in Moldova.
Why does energy show losses?
In 2022, purchase prices for gas and electricity rose sharply, while regulated tariffs were adjusted late. Suppliers sold below cost for a good part of the year.
Where does the data come from?
From the annual financial statements filed by companies and from the state register, aggregated on Datero.md. The grouping by sector follows the sections of the CAEM classifier.
See the sector analysis, kept up to date
On the analytics page you can change the year and see the top companies in each sector.