Constantin: Agri-food product trade balance registered EUR 35 million surplus in January

The agri-food trade balance in January 2014 registered a 35 million euro surplus compared with January 2013, Vice Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin told a specialist conference quoted by Agerpres.

2014-04-15 17:32:49

"The figures for January are encouraging, because the trend of the surplus growth registered in 2013 on the agri-food trade balance continues. Thus, in January 2014, there was a surplus of 35 million euros compared with January 2013, when things were better than in January 2012. The important thing is that we no longer have the wheat on the first position in exports, such as it was the case in 2013, when we exported 4.7 million tonnes of wheat, out of a 7.3 million tonne production. We certainly did not only export from the crops of 2013. There are certain vulnerabilities surfacing, which we need to change," Constantin pointed out.

He mentioned that, in 2013, Romania managed to increase the agri-food exports by EUR 1.1 billion compared with 2012, registering, from an almost 800 million euro deficit, an over EUR 300 million surplus.

In the trade balance of January, corn took the first position.

Last year, Romania exported agri-food products worth over EUR 5.098 billion, by EUR 1.183 billion more compared with the previous year (plus 30.2 per cent), and ended the year with a surplus worth almost EUR 325 million in the trade balance for this segment, the first surplus over the past 20 years.
The agri-food imports slightly exceeded the value of EUR 4.773 billion, registering a 2.4 per cent advance compared with the value registered in 2012. Reported to the previous year, the intra-community supply increased 10.9 per cent and the exports to third countries grew some 72.4 per cent.