Romania, second ranked in corn production in Europe

For the fifth time in the past decade Romania holds second place in the overall production of corn in the European Union (EU), only behind France, with local farmers gathering on average 4.4 tonnes per hectare from 2.6 million hectares, according to Ziarul Financiar

2014-10-04 12:16:01 - From the Print Edition

Farmers have succeeded in three of the last four years to produce a corn crop of over 11 million tonnes, which placed Romania in second place in the EU and placed the local economy just behind Russia and Canada to occupy the twelfth position among the largest producers in the world economy. The producers plan to raise 11.5 million tonnes of corn this fall, a similar amount to last year when productivity was sustained by a rainy summer without extreme temperatures, totalling 1.5 billion Euro. The difference between Romanian and French production is denoted only by the productivity. Romanian farmers gather on average 4.4 tonnes per hectare on 2.6 million hectares and French harvest 9.5 tonnes per hectare on 1.7 million hectares. With productivity equal to the French, the local economy would raise 25 million tonnes of corn, comparable to Argentina or Ukraine. In two weeks, between August 27 and September 10, the price of corn fell by 28 per cent, from 115 Euro per ton in the physical market in Romania. The futures contract with delivery in November on the Paris stock exchange came up to trade at 138.5 euro per ton, ten per cent below the level at the end of August.