Romania ends 2019 on 1.225bn-euro deficit in agri-food trade

Romania registered a deficit of 1.225 billion euros in agri-food trade in 2019, up 8pct compared to 2018, when it amounted to 1.133 billion euros, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR), sent at the request of AGERPRES.

Last year, the value of exports increased by almost 11pct, amounting to 7.199 billion euros, while imports increased in value by 10.3pct, to 8.424 billion euros.

The total quantity of agri-food products exported between January and December 2019 in the intra- and extra-EU countries was double than that of the imported ones, but Romania continues to export mainly raw materials at low prices and imports processed products with high added value.

According to MADR data, in 2019, 19.9 million tonnes of agri-food products were exported, up from the same period of last year, when an amount of 18.48 million tonnes was recorded. The imports of food and agricultural products totaled 9.09 million tonnes last year, increasing by 580,000 tonnes compared to the previous year (8.51 million tonnes). AGERPRES