Romania exports 12 mln tonnes of grains worth over 2.2bn euro, to EU, third countries, in 2018

Romania exported more than 12 million tonnes of grains to the European Union and third countries last year, by a million tonnes more than in the previous year, with receipts exceeding 2.2 billion euro, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development at AGERPRES' request. 

In 2018, the most important export destinations were Spain, Egypt, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Germany and Libya. 

On the other hand, grain imports totaled 1.4 million tonnes last year, and the amounts spent amounted to 320 million euro. Most imported grains came from Bulgaria and Hungary. 

The data of the European Institute of Statistics - Eurostat - as well as those of the INS confirmed that Romania last year ranked third in the European Union, after France and Germany, in the production of grains, with a total harvest of 31.187 million tonnes. 

In terms of maize, Romania ranked first in 2018 for the second consecutive year in the EU, with a total crop of nearly 19 million tonnes, up nearly 33pct over 2017 and a yield of 7.8 tonnes / hectare, outpacing France, which produced 12.59 million tonnes last year. 

As far as the wheat production is concerned, our country last year ranked 4th in the EU with 10.27 million tonnes, a plus of 2.36pct versus 2017 and an average of 4.8 tonnes / hectare, although it was a difficult year in which farmers faced extreme weather phenomena. 
Sunflower crop rose to 3.35 million tonnes in 2018, up 15.01pct from 2017 at a yield of 2.9 tonnes / hectare. These data place Romania again in the first place in the EU.