Good weather boosts Romania’s grain production by 24.3 percent in 2011

Newsroom 30/03/2012 | 11:28

Romania was the second largest corn producer in Europe last year and the fifth wheat producer, according to data published this Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). Overall, the country’s grain cereal output rose 24.3 percent in 2011, to 20.78 million tons, compared to 16.71 million tons in 2010.

5.24 million hectares of land were cultivated with grains last year, compared to 5.04 million hectares in 2010.

The total wheat production amounted to 7.1 million tons -from a total cultivated area of 1.92 million hectares – up from 5.81 million tons in 2010 which resulted from 2.16 million hectares. Romania was the fifth largest wheat producer in Europe last year but ranked the ninth position in term of productivity.

According to INS, Romania’s corn production was 11.6 million tons in 2011, resulting form 2.6 million hectares. In 2010 the production was 9 million tons from a total cultivated area of 2.09 million hectares. At a European level, Romania’s corn production came second after that of France, due to lower productivity.

Good weather conditions made 2011 one of the best agricultural years in the past decade for the local economy. Romania’s agriculture reported a net output growth of 11.3 percent in 2011 and was one of the main sectors responsible for last year’s 2.5 percent GDP rise, shows data released by INS earlier this month.