Romanian farmland is up to 40 times cheaper in parts of Western Europe, writes The Telegraph.
In Romania, the price of a hectare of farmland stands at EUR1,000 to EUR2,000, depending on the area, according to ads posted online. Prices in the Netherlands reach EUR50,000, in Denmark they reach EUR28,000, while prices in the Czech Republic range between EUR2,400 and EUR2,500, according to Eurostat data.
The low farmland prices have attracted Dutch, British, German or Lebanese investors to Romania. The interest shown by foreigners towards Romanian farmland is not surprising. With an EUR2 million investment in 1,000 hectares of land, an investor will derive revenue of EUR1 million from a single wheat harvest, taking into account an average price of EUR250/ton and a production per hectare of around 4 tons.
Romanian-held companies are still the biggest owners of farmland in Romania at the moment, but the top ten largest owners of farmland also include two foreign-held companies.
Maria Trading and Agro Chirnogi, held by a group of Lebanese businesspeople, own over 25,000 hectares of farmland, while Delta-Rom Agriculture, controlled through a Luxembourg offshore, owns 10,000 hectares. Other investors, such as Germany’s Vital&Heyl or Danish JD Agro purchased smaller areas, between 1,500 and 5,000 hectares.
There are 14.7 million hectares of farmland in Romania, out of which 9.4 million hectares of arable land, 3.3 million hectares of open pasture, 1.5 million hectares of hay fields, 218,000 hectares of vineyards and 206,000 hectares of orchards.