Romania’s average wheat production down 20 percent this year

Bad weather has lead to a decrease of the average her hectare wheat production by 20 percent in 2012 y-o-y and a increase of producer prices during harvest time by 20 – 25 percent, said representatives of the Cereals and Derivate Products Interprofessional Organization at the end of a meeting at the Ministry of Agriculture, according to Agerpres.

While volumes have gone down, the quality of the harvested wheat is “unprecedented in the last 25 years”, according to the organization.

Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture have confirmed the information. “From the quality point of view, there is an improvement this year. At the same time, there is a decrease of the average per hectare production of about 20 percent compared to the same period of last year due to the drought and weather conditions which have affected lately the crops, said Daniel Botanoiu, state secretary at the Agriculture Ministry.

About 30 percent of the wheat and rye crops have been harvested so far and the process should be completed in ten days’ time, added Botanoiu.

In 2011 Romania’s total 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.

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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, according to the National Statistics Institute.

Simona Bazavan