The interim data centralized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development show that in 2014 the Romanian farmers have harvested over 7.37 million tones of wheat and rye, on a surface of over 2 million hectares. The wheat production in 2014 has risen compared to 2013, when 7.34 million tones have been harvested. The average hectare production has risen to 3.65 tones, exceeding the 2013 value of 3.55 tones per hectare. The figures also show that it has been a good year for the oilseed rape crop. “It is a very good year for oilseed rape, we have had the best harvest since 1970. To be more precise, this year we have a production of 1,089 million tones, almost double compared to last year’s figure“, said Daniel Constantin, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, during his visit in Mehedinti County.
On the other hand, the farmers are dissatisfied with the traders’ prices. “Production has improved this year, but the prices are 15-20% lower than last year’s. Financially, we are not content, because we have not recovered our investments and we do not have the money to invest in autumn, in next year’s crops. The farmers are now more indebted because they have to get ready for 2015. We have not managed to value what we have produced because we have the lowest prices in the past few years“, the businessman Culita Tarata said for Capital.
The businessman from Neamt County also told us that the grain prices in Romania are now lower than those in Ukraine, which has never happened before. “For instance, a tone of barley costs 145 euros, and a tone of wheat costs 175 euros. In this instance the farmers are at loss”, he added. Adrian Porumboiu said that he is ashamed to admit to the sale prices for grains. At the same time, Stefan Poenaru, the owner of Agrofarm network of companies, told us that grain prices are “pitiful”, meaning 0.60-0.65 RON per kilogram. ”The traders give us as much as they please and how they please. The production is poor both from a quality perspective and quantity wise“, the businessman who owns agriculture plots in Balta Ialomitei added.
Ion Cioroianu, a counsellor with the Romanian Farmers Association explained that the decrease in grain prices was largely due to the international context and to a smaller extent to the lesser quality of grain because of bad weather.
The southern part of the country- the most affected by weather
If at country level the 2014 harvest is larger than in 2013, that is not valid for the southern part of the country, where rains have done the greatest damage. “2014 seems to look worse financially. The harvest will be reduced by 20-35% compared to 2013 because of weather conditions which have led to delays in harvesting. This year we have harvested 30,000 tonnes of wheat, out of which 20,000 have been sold. We sell at a good price, 0.70 RON per kilo. But the market price is at 0.62-0.64 RON. That is the lowest price in the past 5 years”, Stefan Poenaru added.
At the same time, Cornel Stroescu, the businessman who exploits 1,500 hectares in Mehedinti County says he got a yield of 2,500 kilos of wheat per hectare. “If before the rains we thought we would get around 5,500 kilos per hectare, we actually got 2,500 kilos. We had 110 hectares affected to varying degrees, between 30-100%. There were areas where we couldn't harvest anything”, said Stroescu, the president of the National Agriculture Chamber and the representative for the County of Mehedinti.
Great expectations from the corn and sunflower crops
On the other hand, the rain helped the corn and sunflower crops. “The corn and sunflower crops look good and we expect a production 10-20% higher than in 2013, for both crops, if the weather allows for harvesting”, also said Cioroianu.
According to the MADR data, the sunflower cultivated area is of one million hectares. Last year the sunflower harvest exceeded the two million threshold, thus having the largest harvest in the past three decades. The average hectare yield was of 1.9 tones, exceeding the 2011 and 2012 values, when the average yield was of 1.789 tonnes and 1.31 tonnes per hectare.
