“Buyers know that the corn crop is really large everywhere in the world and have taken steps accordingly. We have already prepared trips abroad to discuss contracts in Morocco and Jordan,” says Mihai Anghel, owner of Cerealcom Dolj, an over EUR100 million agricultural production and trade business.
Corn is the most widespread crop in Romania this season, as farmers allocated 2.6 million hectares to it, and accounts for almost half of the grain market.
Romanian farmers’ appetite for corn is because this particular crop is more balanced in terms of risk and profit and more profitable than wheat.
“One can make more than EUR1,000/hectare at a 10-ton/hectare yield, which means one covers costs and makes profit. We harvested 14 tons/hectare from unirrigated land,” says Mihai Anghel.
The drop in corn price in Romania follows the trend of the European market.
The international corn market is seeing a price decline because the farmers in the United States are getting ready to harvest a record high of 365 million tons, an increase of 3.3% on the previous season and slightly more than one third of the entire world production. EU’s corn harvest stands at 68.3 million tons, 6.3% higher than last year.
The rainy summer without any extreme temperatures helped boost corn yield, so forecasts point to a 10.5 million to 11.5 million ton crop in Romania, the same as last year.
Romania will remain second largest corn producer in the EU, behind France, whose crop will amount to almost 17 million tons. However, Romania’s production accounts for merely 1.1% of world production, so farmers hardly have any control over prices.
The corn crop will be enough for domestic consumption and for about 3 million ton exports, 10% lower than last season.
Most important destinations for Romanian corn are Netherlands, Egypt, Italy, Spain and South Korea.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)