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Romania's maximum 2020 wheat production this year could reach 5-5.5 million tonnes, as against a good year's 7 to 9 million tonnes, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Adrian Oros said Friday.
"The estimates are quite approximate. There are estimates made both by farmers' associations and by some of individual farmers. Of course, comparing the areas that have been sown, and we are talking about 2.9 million hectares that in autumn were cultivated with wheat, barley, two-row barley, rye, rapeseed, and since we have so far found that more than a third of them have been affected more than 50% we can have an estimate of a maximum production of 5-5.5 million tonnes of wheat. In the good years, in the years when it rained, a production of 7 even 9 million tonnes of wheat was yielded," Oros told Digi 24 private broadcaster.
Asked about the export of cereals in this context, Oros responded that "export is a concern, but it is the last concern of the ministry."
He said that they are trying to restart the pressure stations and introduce water on the canals.
Due to a lingering drought, Romania's grain production in 2020-2021 is forecast to fall by 2.6% despite a 2.2% increase in planted area, according to a May 18 Global Agricultural Information Network report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cited by the world-grain.com portal.
The USDA estimates a decline in wheat production in 2020-2021 to 8.3 million tonnes from 8.6 million tonnes, despite a 5.2% increase in planted hectares.
Romania's corn acreage will remain stable at 2.65 million hectares and the USDA projects a slight decrease in output to 14 million tonnes during the coming marketing year, which starts July 1.
Barley production is forecast to decline by 3% to 1.55 million tonnes in 2020-2021, the USDA said.
As a result, total grain exports for the coming marketing year are projected to decline by 5.5% following a 9.5% increase in exports in 2019-2020
