The minister’s statement comes after Hungary’s counterpart, Istvan Nagy, announced on Friday (March 4) that his country would immediately ban all grain exports due to surging prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s about Hungary, Bulgaria and Serbia (countries which banned or are considering banning grain exports – ed.) and we need to make it clear from the beginning that Romania is not one of those countries. We are traditionally a country that exports, because we produce more than we consume on the domestic market. The Romanian population has access to food and agri-food products, which has been under discussion for a very long time, because we have planned to be very aware, as this is not the first crisis – it is coming and overlapping with the energy crisis, over the pandemic crisis – and all these things in the last two years have affected the agriculture of Romania and the agriculture of all the states from the European Union”, said Chesnoiu.
Chesnoiu went on to explain: “The Ministry of Agriculture deals strictly with agri-food production and at this level I tell you that there is currently no syncope in the food supply of the population. (…) There is certainly enough food in the state reserves so that we can get over this crisis. We have made demands on the factors that enable the state reserves to be sufficient, because we are concerned about the situation of the Romanian population and we did it before the military aggression of Russia (…) Romania is not in the situation of the other states that try to ensure their internal consumption. For instance, internal elections are upcoming in Hungary and we must interpret all these decisions also from the political perspective”.
Wheat prices increased by 7.2% on the Chicago Grain Exchange on Monday, the highest level since March 2008, to $12.60 a bushel, amid fears that a global supply will be disrupted until the Russian-Ukrainian conflict is resolved.
In early March 2022, the price of wheat rose by more than 40% as the military conflict disrupted supplies in Ukraine and Russia. At the Chicago Grain Exchange, corn prices rose 2.7% on Monday and soybeans by 2.05%, with both prices at their highest level since September 2012.
Ukraine and Russia are responsible for more than 30% of the world wheat trade, 32% for barley, 20% for corn and over 50% for sunflower oil and oilseeds.
Sales of Russian wheat have dropped significantly due to port closures, a lack of ships willing to go to Russian ports and the impact of sanctions. Ukrainian ports remain closed and traders will not buy Russian wheat due to sanctions, so buyers are looking for other suppliers. Demand for EU wheat exports rose last week and the trend is set to continue, traders say.