By
Andra Beltz
Romania has made over 30 million tons of grain this year, compared to 27 million tons last year, with the production of corn and sunflower occupying the first place in the European Union, said Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petre Daea .
“Grain production exceeds 30 million tons in 2018. At sunflower we have achieved over 3.35 million tons and we are the first in the European Union (EU), being the largest production ever made. At corn, we still have to harvest 0.5% of the area in the counties of the country, but so far we have exceeded 18 million tons. At corn, we are also ranked first in the EU, “Daea said. The surface sown this year with corn was 2,415 million hectares and sunflower of 1.01 million hectares.
The Minister of Agriculture said that in a few days, the final data on the outputs obtained this year, as well as the yield, will be announced.
This year, the wheat harvest exceeded 10.2 million tonnes, more than 2.3% higher than last year when it amounted to 10 million tonnes.
The summer grain harvest reached 12.8 million tonnes, slightly increasing compared to last year, when it was 12.7 million tonnes, with an average production of 4.655 kg / ha, compared to last year, by 4.598 kg / ha.
Last year, Romania reported a total cereal production of nearly 27 million tonnes, or 1.4 tonnes per capita, with historical records of wheat, peas, barley, sunflower, soy, corn, potatoes, grapes and corn . The production of wheat, rye and triticale was about 10 million tons, with a yield of 4.83 tons per hectare, while in maize, the harvest “jumped” to 14.5 million tons, with an average of almost 6 tonnes per hectare. And in sunflower, a record production of 3.167 million tonnes was recorded in 2017, with a yield of 2.72 tonnes per hectare.
On October 25, the General Association of Corn Producers (AGPM), quoted by the Le Monde daily, estimated that Romania would harvest this year between 14.5 and 15 million tons of maize, compared with only 11.8 million tons of France will be harvested, which means that Romania will take over the crown of the largest European corn producer, vampirer the European corn market.
Among the member states of the European Union (EU), Romania occupies the first place in sunflower (according to the cultivated area and the production) in 2017, the first place in the grain maize depending on the cultivated area and the second place in the production , after France. Also, wheat ranks fifth on both the cultivated surface and production.
Data published on 16 November by the European Statistics Office (Eurostat) showed that Romania was the European Union’s eighth agricultural power in 2017.
“The European Union’s agricultural production amounted to EUR 432.6 billion in 2017, 6.2% higher than in 2016, with the highest total agricultural output being France (EUR 72.6 billion or 17% of the total EU), Germany (€ 56.2 billion or 13%), Italy (€ 55.1 billion or 13%) “, according to Eurostat.
The following places are occupied by Spain (€ 50.6 billion or 12%), Great Britain (€ 31.8 billion or 7%), the Netherlands (€ 28.9 billion or 7%), Poland (€ 24.9 billion or 6%) and Romania (€ 17.5 billion or 4% of the total EU).
“In Romania, the value of total agricultural production increased last year by 13.2%, mainly due to an increase of 17.9% in the value of agricultural crops, of 8.8% in the value of animal production and 5.1% of the value of agricultural services.
