France will remain the leading corn producer, with a 15.4 million ton harvest. Romania’s corn harvest is close to the 2011 level, a record year for its agriculture sector and a peak of the last seven years.
The 11.3 million ton production is twice higher than in 2012, after productivity rose 92.5% to 4.14 tons per hectare, according to the July report of the European Commission.
The corn harvest will be a EUR1.5 billion ‘breath of fresh air’ for the economy and help lower costs of livestock farmers and meat processors. The economy cannot fully benefit from the high corn harvest, though, because some of it is exported as raw material. Romania’s agrifood exports stand at EUR4 billion a year, with grain and live exports accounting for half of the figure.
With irrigation systems in place, Romania can very well produce 6 to 8 tons per hectare, explained French entrepreneur Arnaud Perrein, manager of Sopema Ialomita, a 3,500 hectare farm with EUR3.2 million revenue in 2012.
Romanian farmer Gheorghe Tutuianu, chairman of the “Ileana” farming association in Calarasi, formed by 26 farmers that pooled 20,000 hectares, says, “expected production is indeed high, but prices are half of what they were last year.”
The first contracts stipulating delivery upon harvest indicate a EUR130/ton price at the farm, 48% lower than a year ago.
However, corn remains a profitable crop for farmers working more than 1,000 hectares of land and semi-industrial and industrial farms.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)